


Serendipity

by Rabentochter



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: ADD/ADHD Tony Stark, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers Family, BAMF Clint Barton, BAMF Loki (Marvel), BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Tony Stark, Banter, Betrayal, Bruce Is a Good Bro, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), Canon-Typical Violence, Coffee, Coffee Addict Tony Stark, Courtship, Domestic Avengers, Enemies to Lovers, Gen, Happy Ending, Headaches & Migraines, Humor, Hurt Tony Stark, I said canon whomst, I take what I want, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, M/M, Marvel 616/MCU Crossover, Memory Alteration, Natasha Romanov has knives in her hands, Platonic Relationships, Plot Twists, Post-Betrayal, Revenge, Sassy, Team Bonding, The Avengers Are Good Bros, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Needs Sleep, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, Warning: Loki (Marvel), an attempt at biology, bruce is the bro to conspire with, thou shall not judge me I am but a poor gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:07:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25764910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabentochter/pseuds/Rabentochter
Summary: It's the morning after Loki’s betrayal. Tony’s head is hurting, none of the Avengers feel good about what happened but they live to take on Thanos another day, to save the universe from his courtship nonsense for Lady Death.Normally, that would suffice. Only that Tony’s headache gets worse over the time, the Tesseract mysteriously appears in his workshop, he gets a nose bleed, and Clint compliments his ass.
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Tony Stark, Clint Barton & Tony Stark, Loki/Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team
Comments: 74
Kudos: 215





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic turned into a love serenade for the Avengers 2012 Family fics during the writing process. You'll ... see what I mean 😆
> 
> Thank you to NamelesslyNightlock for beta'ing & plotting this, AmidnightDreary and thebifrostgiant for checking this over for potential plot holes and "Does this even make sense" looking. I doubt this thing here would be as it it without your help ❤️
> 
> Also! It _might_ not look like it's a Frostiron Fic. I assure you, it is. It just. Avenger Family Feels took over. Sorry, Lokes 😆
> 
> The next chapter will be posted next Friday because I'm going on self-isolating holidays with a friend, to catch a break from life and expectations 👀🙌 Also don't worry, these chapters won't be 10K+ xD

**_Now_ **

The thing that Tony noticed first was that his head was hurting like a fucking ass. That wasn’t necessarily the bestest thing to think about in the early hours of a young and fresh morning but – _fucking shit, he couldn’t help it._ His head was throbbing, and it felt as if needles were trying to poke holes into his skull.

“Turn the light down, Jay,” he whispered, his eyes pinched shut. What wouldn’t he give if he could reduce noise and brightness right now. Post-battle state was never awesome, in his long and awesome reputation as Iron Man. It _always_ sucked. If it wasn’t wounds he suffered, then it was some spectacular hangover or some clingy One-Night Stand who hadn’t gotten the memo to leave his bed.

Thankfully, his AI was one of the more trustworthy people – unlike others, Tony realised with a bitter chuckle that hurt his head even more.

“What’s the report this morning, Jay?”

 _“Headache from a punch against your head, Sir,”_ his AI started, his dry voice lacking any joy. Instead, he sounded _tired_. “ _Two bruised ribs on your left side. The Tower hasn’t been breached since you have returned from the fight last night.”_

“And Loki?” Tony licked his lips as he carefully eased himself out of bed. The thought of the traitor didn’t hurt much. He and the rest of the Avengers had known that Loki would betray them one day, and that rather sooner than later. Not, that – it didn’t still fucking hurt.

They had done their best to be welcoming towards the outsider, the lone god of Asgard, and all that to capture Thanos. To free Earth and the rest of the universe by coincidence, of the big looming threat. Because, oh _surprise_ , it wasn’t Loki behind the attack on New York City last year. _No_.

Well, he’d still been the figurehead and the one executing all the orders, as the traitor had openly admitted with no small amount of pride. But – the difference was that Loki wouldn’t have done it, had it not been for… _pressing_ questions and therealike. And apparently, he also was a mummy’s boy because he didn’t wish for his mother to see Asgard fall into ruin, so away with Thanos it was.

Not that Tony didn’t get that, he’d loved his mom a lot too but _fucking hell_.

“What’s the analysis on Loki’s change of heart? A plot, planned beforehand?”

_“I haven’t had a talk with Mr Loki since before the fight.”_

“Good for you,” Tony said grimly. “I don’t want my AI to betray me.”

_“Sir, I would **never**.”_

“I know, Jay.” A small smile. “I know.” He sighed as he put on his morning robe. “What’s the status on the rest of the team? Cap already punching the shit out of the dummies?”

_“He’s making waffles in the communal kitchen as we speak.”_

_Waffles_. Tony’s heart skipped a beat.

“Does he think waffles are the cure for betrayal?”

 _“I think he is trying to work out his aggressions without beating the gym into a pulp,”_ JARVIS informed him and sent a feed of the kitchen on his phone. Cap was indeed making waffles and cracking the eggs open with more violence than needed.

Tony almost felt pity for them. But only almost. Then he remembered how fucking pale eggs were in their natural state and that reminded him of Loki. And all of a sudden, he didn’t feel quite as much pity anymore.

“What’s on the to-do list for today?”

_“Repairs on the Iron Man suit, Sir. The thrusters and rocket-launchers seem to have taken the biggest hits yesterday, and your Secret Project is working for you.”_

“My Secret Project?” Tony blew out air. “I don’t think there’s a _Secret Project_ left. Not anymore, after Loki –“ Tony stopped for a moment. Stopped, so that he could try to curb the rage that was boiling up in him.

He remembered the battlefield from yesterday.

How the Avengers and he – stupid, _naïve –_ had followed Loki’s lead to chop Thanos’ head off, in a display of… _worship_ for Lady Death. He still couldn’t wrap his head around that death was a _person_ , not only a simple state of being, becoming. Something that was inevitable in the circle of life. To die, that was not. Not to become _Death_ , or a fucking _traitor_. And then Loki had fucking turned _against_ them.

His head was still pounding as he walked into the communal kitchen.

The rage was still simmering, almost about to explode.

“Tony!” Cap looked faintly happy to see him.

Tony barely managed a smile. Instead, he grabbed a plate, and had Cap throw a few waffles on it before he poured maple syrup all over them.

“How are you?”

Tony pondered the question for a second. “Livid,” he then answered. “You?”

Cap snorted. “About the same.”

“You took your aggressions out on the eggs.”

“I did.” A shrug. “Can’t say I regret it. The waffles taste swell.”

“ _Swell_.” Tony stabbed his fork into the waffles. “I wish yesterday had been _swell_.”

“We lost. We came back home. We can try another day.”

“Sometimes I really hate your optimism.”

“I’m not optimistic by nature.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Tony bit into his waffles, his eyes closing in bliss. “But I’ll accept the optimism if it means more waffles,” he said, his mouth muffled around his mouthful of waffles.

Tony got more waffles.

It was almost enough to make up for the pounding headache.

\- ⍰ -

The headache didn’t cease throughout the day. It didn’t necessarily get worse either, but it certainly was a persistent fucker. Tony smeared some peppermint oil into his hair, massaged it into his scalp. Perhaps the headache was the lesser of two evils. After all, it _did_ stop him from letting his thoughts wander, until they’d eventually reach Loki.

 _Loki_.

Disgust welled up in him. _Never_ had he trusted a known enemy before. Why he’d let his guard down around Loki, he could not say. He blamed it on Loki’s silvertongue and how he seemed to be desperate to get Thanos off his back, and the universe free, his mother safe.

Perhaps Tony could simply blame a big chunk of it on Thor. The Avengers’ only resident god had quickly chosen to trust Loki as well, after he’d turned up on the doorstep. His voice nigh a pleading tone, asking for _three minutes_ to explain.

_“Whether you believe me or not, the universe as you know it is at stake.”_

Tony wanted to slap his past self for buying that bullshit.

Loki was Loki. A villain.

Someone who only wreaked chaos and havoc, and he didn’t shy from anything or anyone. _Nothing_ was sacred to Loki, as the situation had proven.

They’d wanted to sacrifice Thanos to Lady Death so she’d leave them alone.

And Loki? Loki thought it would be fun to turn the spiel around; have _them_ sacrificed by Thanos to Lady Death. They were “worthy” and a “good fight”, as he had proclaimed, a mad smirk on his face. His voice, begging for Thanos to hear him, to answer him.

A pathetic excuse for a whining bitch.

…and now he _was_ thinking about Loki.

Tony groaned. “What did you mean earlier with the Secret Project, Jay?”

_“It’s in your workshop, Sir.”_

Perhaps that would be enough to put him on some new thoughts. Usually, the workshop did promise relief and distraction. A place where he could simply _be_ , have no regulations, no obligatory standards that were to be met – only his own. Where no one would complain about his music being too loud and that it would damage his hearing severely in the years to follow.

Coffee with no end.

In his workshop, Tony Stark could be _Tony Stark._

But what greeted him in the workshop drew him up short.

Because how the fuck had the _Tesseract_ gotten into his workshop?

Tony didn’t understand it. As far as he was aware, the Tesseract was on Asgard. Taken there last year by Thor, when he’d brought his treacherous brother home to mummy. The Tesseract couldn’t – it couldn’t be here. Nope. No chance.

He clicked his finger against the cube.

It was warm. Solid.

 _Here_. Not in godland. In his workshop, just a hairsbreadth away from him.

“Okay, what the fuck.”

_“It’s the Secret Project, Sir.”_

“No kidding.” Tony raised his eyes to the ceiling but it did not offer him any consolation or anything remotely close to that. Instead it stared silently back at him, leaving him alone to wonder what the ever loving fuck was going on in Stark Tower. “Does Thor know?”

“ _No, Sir.”_ JARVIS cleared his throat. _“It would be preferable if he doesn’t learn of the Tesseract’s existence here.”_

“Oh? Why?”

 _“Sir.”_ Now JARVIS sounded like he was possessed by the spirit of an exhausted housewife who’d told her dear husband for the nth-time that he should take his muddy shoes off before walking into the kitchen. Yepp. Okay, he probably had watched a lot of old stuff recently because of Cap and his big blue puppy eyes but you know, one never knew when you could be in need of 20’s movie references. Maybe one day he’d team up with Cap against Red, and then they’d take her down with reference after reference, like she shot bullets.

Yeah, he didn’t believe that was realistic either but –

The fucking Tesseract was here, nothing was unrealistic anymore.

“How the fuck did it even get here?”

_“Sir, Mr Banner is approaching.”_

“WHA–“ He scrambled in front of the Tesseract.

There was this tiny bit of hope that Bruce would not notice Tony’s unnatural state, how he leant against the desk and hopefully he wouldn’t see the blue glow behind him either.

He was well aware that this was a lot to hope for.

“I brought lunch,” Bruce told him. He had a band-aid on his right cheekbone.

“Wow, did you get a tattoo?”

Bruce’s dry look almost killed Tony on the spot. He felt it. The Force™️ was with his Science Bro.

“That was a Chitauri.”

“I almost forgot we were in a battle last night.”

“I didn’t.” Bruce sighed. “Anyway, I have lunch for you even though it’s already evening. Cap is worried that you’re forgetting time and to eat.”

“Not to drink?”

“We all know that you have at least _one_ coffee machine down here.”

“I hate it when I get so transparent.” Tony pointed at the desk for Bruce to put the plate down.

He froze.

Bruce blinked.

“Is that-“

“No.”

“Tony–“

“No Tony’s here.”

“Does Thor–“

“Not as far as I know. And I know nothing.”

Silence.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

Bruce shrugged. “Okay. Honestly, Tony. After yesterday? I’m damn glad for every advantage that we can get our fingers on.”

“Oh. Yes. Right.” Tony blew out air.

“You’re okay?”

“About as okay as one can be,” he replied. “How about you?”

“Angry.” Bruce shrugged. “But it’s done. For now. No promises though if Loki crosses our paths soon or _ever_ , again.”

“You and me both, buddy.”

The look he shared with Bruce spoke of a deep bonding. It was just – both _knew_ the pain of betrayal, and not only had they been betrayed but also –

Their goodwill had been abused and exploited, then shot into the sky with a loud and clear **_BOOM_**.

They’d escaped scarcely, most of the Chitauri had been killed but a few ran to Thanos, Loki with them. The mad cackle was still echoing in Tony’s ears. The glee, the pure and unadulterated joy at seeing the Avengers brought low, having crossed them, making them _believe_ in him –

Loki had been lucky to escape.

\- ⍰ -

The advantage of having a science buddy was that Tony wasn’t burdened with the knowledge of the Tesseract’s existence alone. In his lab, that is. Everybody knew the Tesseract existed but they all assumed – correctly – that it was on Asgard, not in Tony’s fucking workshop and certainly not used at all by DUM-E and YOU as a replacement for their broken frisbee. Tony was sure he suffered the fright of his life more than once when the cube fell to the ground. That it didn’t shatter was a wonder.

Bruce looked as pale as a sheet when he saw the fall, the only colour that marked him as still being alive was the green tinge around his nose. That was the moment Tony made his science bro sit down somewhere with one of those amazing _herbal teas_ which calmed antagonised souls.

Yet, nobody could say for sure _how_ the Tesseract had gotten into Tony’s workshop. He wasn’t stupid, he knew that there weren’t many options but – why would _Loki_ give them the Tesseract?

“He’s mocking us,” Bruce said. “Taunting us.”

It made as much sense as any other explanation so Tony chose to accept it. In the long run it wouldn’t matter _how_ the Tesseract had gotten in here, only _what_ they’d done with it. And it was not to try to achieve world domination, no. Although the idea was tempting when Tony felt bad and ignored – you know, as he did almost every evening’s dinner because as much as the team proclaimed to like him –

He often felt like no more than the money provider, only allowed to be with them because that was the way to keep the money flowing. It was a thought that sat stubbornly in the back of his mind, only soothed when Bruce made sure he felt included – whether it was on purpose or not. Tony refused to think about it any further because –

Well, Rhodey had told him not to be so negative all the time, and his best friend was right more often than not. It prickled Tony that his best friend had been sent on a secret mission – okay, he knew _where and why_ , so it wasn’t as secret as the military wanted one to believe but – Rhodeybear’s life depended on his cover not being blown. Ergo, Tony could not call him and whine to him about how tragic life was, and what a fuck ass Loki had been all along.

Another headache was sneaking up on him when he tried to think about Rhodey and Loki’s interactions in the past.

“Tony?”

“Brucieeeeeee!”

Bruce sighed. “We’ve been in here for almost two days. It’s time to get a break.”

“Two days?” Tony frowned. “Already? And you didn’t want a break beforehand? Brucie, are you _okay_?”

“We had to make sure the Tesseract isn’t bugged in any way,” Bruce explained. “It isn’t, and we’ve made sure that nobody will catch us with what we’re doing here too. Ran some basic tests on the Tesseract, cleared the workshop up, played Catch with the bots. I’m _tired_.”

“Sleep is for the weak.”

“After almost 48 hours, sleep is absolutely for the weak because _we_ are the weak ones, Tony.”

Tony did not like the smile on Bruce’s face. “You sleep, I’ll think about what we can do with this pretty lady.”

“Tony. You’re more stumbling than walking.”

“And I _don’t care_.” Tony leant back against his table. His arms crossed, feeling angry, mad almost, all of a sudden. “I’m not a _toddler_ , Bruce. Even if that seems to be a common belief about me. I know my limits and I know when I have to catch sleep. At this point? _I don’t._ Loki is still fucking out there, we have the fucking Tesseract in our hands. My head is still pounding, good for you that you don’t seem to have gotten any blemishes from the skirmish.”

“Tony–“

“No, how about you let me talk?” Anger was boiling beneath his skin. “Loki is out there and crossed us. We don’t know exactly what he all learnt from us, what strategies will be _useless_ and what other weaknesses he’s whispering in Thanos’ ears right now. We are _the weak ones_ , as you so poetically put it. And I will not go to _sleep_ for as long as we’re threatened. It’s not only us at stake here. It’s not only New York City. Thanos is after the whole _universe_ and you want to _sleep?_ ”

He breathed in deeply. Rubbed his hands over his face.

“If you need to sleep, then go and get it. I’ll be down here. But _don’t_ try to order me around as if I wouldn’t know my own limits.”

“I–“ Bruce looked uncomfortable.

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” Tony sighed. “Get some sleep, Bruce. You need it.”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “I’m sorry too, you know?”

“I know.” A chuckle escaped Tony. “Catch you later.”

And then he was left alone.

A part of him was amazingly happy about it. His workshop, finally – free again. His home, _his_. It sometimes felt too much when people were with him, no matter how much he liked them. As soon as he was ripped out of what he was doing, he felt –

Angry. Because his focus was gone, his brain interrupted rudely, and it would take a while until he fell back into his workflow again. Sometimes Tony just – hated how his brain worked and how nobody seemed to be able to understand what the hell was going on inside of his mind. Was it truly too much to ask for them to _leave him be_? He would stop when his body told him it was time to stop. How the fuck did they all think he’d survived so far? Huh? Certainly not because Pepper or Rhodey dragged him out and around. He had his schedule that he stuck to mostly but –

He was no baby.

“DUM-E, toss me the frisbee.” He caught the Tesseract with ease. It glowed softly blue in his hands, thrumming quietly as if it was singing a song nobody knew. “If you could only tell me how you got into my workshop.” He tossed it from one hand to the other and back. And again.

“JARVIS, you’re still here?”

“ _Of course, Sir.”_

“Great. Then back to work.”

\- ⍰ -

Tony thrummed his fingers relentlessly against the table’s wooden surface, waiting for Bruce to appear. It had been a day since their uh – yeah, let’s call it an argument. Tony felt a bit guilty about it. It wasn’t that he regretted _what_ he had said because he stood by it. Only, that the full force had met Bruce who – really didn’t deserve another crap asshole yelling at him and telling him exactly what a great piece of shit he was.

“I brought coffee,” was what Bruce said when he opened the door to the workshop. There were two steaming mugs in his hands.

Tony knew a peace offering when he saw one, and this was one he accepted gladly. The mug felt wonderfully warm in his hands, gave him something to hold onto for a minute before he took a sip. _Coffee_. If he were talented in that area, then Tony would not hesitate to write an entire ballad about his favourite brew. It would be famous and people all over the globe would sing it full of passion, praising the elixir which woke the dead from their slumber.

“Okay so, battle plan for today.” Tony put the mug down. “You got enough sleep?”

“Yes.”

“Good, because I doubt I’ll let you leave the workshop for the next 24 hours. Do you remember most of the plans we discussed with Loki?”

Green flashed in Bruce’s eyes. “Yes.”

“Good,” Tony repeated. “Because JARVIS was so kind as to send me a summary of the meeting where we discussed plans. And there’s one plan where the lady doth protests too much.”

“What do you mean?”

“J, play it.”

The closest hologram lit up. It was a clip of a conference only four weeks ago, when they’d been allied with Loki for almost two months.

**_Then_ **

_‘We cannot build a portal to Thanos’ Realm. He **will** have the advantage there.’ Loki looked ready to chew them out._

_‘Oh, but we’ll have much bigger success here?’ Tony scoffed._

_‘Yes. Midgard is the realm in the middle, powers are more equally distributed here because otherwise Yggdrasil will be unbalanced and –“_

_‘Who the fuck is Yggdrasil?” Barton cut in._

_Loki blinked. ‘I cannot believe I’ve chosen to ally myself with a bunch of naïve children,’ he muttered. ‘Barton, I recommend you start reading and then teach your class after this one is over and I can take my leave, hoping there won’t be another adjournment on the next meeting.’_

_‘Sassy,’ Tony commented dryly._

_‘Do me a favour Stark, and shut up.’_

_‘Let’s return back to the topic,’ Steve cut in. Frustration was written all over him. ‘You say we can’t attack Thanos on his realm. Okay. Although it would make it easier for us to sacrifice him to Lady Death there–“_

_Loki arched a brow. ‘Do you trust me, Rogers, or do you not?’_

_‘I wish I wouldn’t have to.’_

_‘I’m sure it, ah-“ Loki clicked his tongue. ‘How would you Midgardians say it primitively? It must suck to be you.”_

_‘You have no idea.’_

_‘I have a distinct feeling, surrounded by primates as I am. We will **not** attack Thanos on his Realm.’_

_‘Brother-‘_

_‘And that–‘ Loki stood up abruptly, ignoring Thor’s pained words, his agony, ‘was my cue to leave. Do your homework, Barton.’_

**_Now_ **

“Do you see?”

“He protested.”

“Exactly.” Tony reached for his mug and took another sip, nervous. Excited. All at once. “He protested against a _sound plan_ which wouldn’t have us get Thanos _easily_. Wouldn’t depend on us having to call Death to Earth, but instead to a place that when everything went wrong, it wouldn’t be our home that would suffer damage. And then he left over a feeble excuse.”

Bruce nodded slowly, obviously deep in thought.

Tony wished he’d nod a bit quicker because his coffee was going cold. And he didn’t want to be extremely rude and leave his friend standing here. “So, what do you say?” he asked impatiently.

“I’m not sure, Tony. You might be right, but also interpret too much into Loki’s statement? We _know_ he’s a bag of cats. He might just have been in one of those moods where he needed to be contradictory.”

“I don’t think so.”

“I thought so.”

“Don’t sound so defeated.” Tony wagged his finger at him. “I’m only on my second mug of coffee, politeness is the furthest thing from my mind.”

“How much do you need to be polite?”

“Twelve.”

“You die after eight.”

“No, that’s politeness that dies.”

Bruce looked as if someone had whipped him with a pan. Tony chose to take mercy upon his friend. “So. If we’re going with my theory which we will because we know that I’m right and you’re wrong – then we know what we have to do.”

“To build a portal that will bring us to Thanos’ Realm which we don’t have the coordinates for?”

Tony snapped with his fingers. “Exactly.” Then, he chugged the rest of his coffee away. _Time for more_. “But that means watching more security feed and theorising, possibly hacking NASA and SHIELD’s archives and–“

He narrowed his eyes, overwrought by intense pain. His head was _pounding_ and he – reached for his table, tried to stabilise himself. Breathed through his nose.

“Tony?” Bruce asked. “You okay?”

“Just a small headache,” he bit out. “Nothing major to worry about. I need something to drink and then, I should be all peachy again.” He stood up straight again, ignoring the pain in favour of smiling at Bruce. Who didn’t look assured. At all.

“Tony, your nose is bleeding.”

“Wha-“ He reached up to it, shocked to find it wet. Then, the first drop reached his lips and the smell of iron hit his nose. “ _Oh._ ” He rubbed the blood away. “Yeah. That didn’t happen in a long time, I’m afraid.”

“The first time, you say?”

“Yeah, why?”

Bruce frowned. “Keep an eye on it. If it happens again, I want to scan you.”

“Why? Anything I should know about?”

“Not, if it’s a one-time occurrence.” Bruce still looked worried. “But better to keep an eye on it, then we can act quickly in case it is HHT.”

“Whomst.”

“Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia. An autosomal dominant genetic disorder caused by a mutation in SMAD4.” At Tony’s confused look he added, “It helps with making protein and is a transcription factor for chemical signals.”

“Ah,” Tony said. “That thing.”

Bruce had the audacity to snigger at his pain. YOU was the good soul, the sweet bean, who gave him a cloth which had been laying around for when the fire extinguisher exploded again.

“We have a plan?” he asked Bruce, the cloth pressed against his nose.

“We have a plan,” Bruce confirmed quietly. “But – you might want to ask Natasha about hacking.”

“Excuse me.” Tony arched a brow. “I hacked the Pentagon when I was sixteen, do you truly think I need to ask our resident assassin about hacking?”

Bruce chose to leave that uncommented.

Traitor.

Tony missed Rhodey in that moment. What wouldn’t he give to have more banter in his life again?

\- ⍰ -

Now that Tony and Bruce had a plan for what to do with the Tesseract – to spite Loki and do exactly what he’d told them _not_ to do – it became easier to go back into full work mode. _Spite_ was his driving motivator and honestly, there was nothing Tony wouldn’t do if that meant seeing Loki’s stupid face. When the Avengers would appear on Thanos’ Realm and fuck the Titan up, and then Loki straight after.

There’d be no mercy. They hadn’t been granted any either and fair was fair. Loki had written the rules, changed them - the Avengers, and especially Tony, simply adapted and continued with the new game. Changing rules were nothing new to him. He was raised as the son of Howard Stark, he used to be the CEO of Stark Industries – if anyone knew anything about changing rules and adapting, then it was him. The only exception Tony would make was Natasha. And Pepper. But Pepper wasn’t an Avenger so she obviously didn’t count. Perhaps that was even better because Pepper as an Avenger was a horrifying image and –

Uh, slightly arousing because Tony _liked_ people who were dangerous and could kick his ass. Something about that triggered his libido and who was he to deny himself that?

Point being that Loki was an asshole, had betrayed them, and would receive payback in double. After all, he deserved only the best of best. And Tony _still_ had to pay him back for the coffee Loki had stolen from Clint once and turned into tea.

Or where Loki ignored him pointedly because talking to a mortal was obviously not something a fallen prince of Asgard would do. Only on occasion. Yes, Tony could bear grudges for ages, thank you for noticing. He kind of liked it. Grudges ensured that people wouldn’t ever forget about him and stopped underestimating him, would only up their game and _yes_ , _challenges._ Perhaps this was why he had never clicked with Hammer. The man was no challenge, no matter how hard he’d tried.

Natasha had told him he should be glad for not having made Justine Hammer’s acquaintance yet but _honestly_ – she was the daughter of Justin and the _name giving skills_ spoke all for the man. Pepper would now tell him off and not underestimate a woman but –

One villain after the other, and Hammer Industries had a long way to go until it could turn into a serious competitor for Stark Industries. JARVIS was going to keep an eye on her either way.

_Back to Loki._

“Earth to Tony.” Natasha waved her fork in front of his face. “Back with us?”

“Yeah.”

“He looks like the cat who got the cream.” Clint pointed his coffee mug at him. Tony eyed it with jealousy. “What were you thinking about?”

“Paying Loki back,” Tony answered truthfully.

“For ditching us?” Clint raised an eyebrow. “You’re not the only one there.”

“Oh, no. Also, for the crime of turning coffee into tea.” He frowned at Clint. “Shouldn’t you be mad as fuck about that?”

“…No?”

Tony’s jaw dropped open. _“What?”_

“My coffee stayed perfectly caffeinated.”

“ _But–“_

“Tony, maybe you should get more sleep.” Natasha frowned at him. “Your coffee was the only one that got changed. I remember vividly how you yelled at Loki for that.”

“I don’t _yell_.”

“You did.”

“He didn’t,” Bruce argued. “Tony –“ he broke off with a frown.

“I never yell,” Tony said quietly. He put his fork down, the potatoes only half touched. “Catch you guys later.”

He _never yelled_. There had been enough shouting in his life, no need to add to it. That everyone – bar Bruce – seemed to believe he’d done that –

Tony swallowed, pinched his eyes shut as soon as he entered the elevator. “To the workshop, Jay.” His safe haven. Perhaps Bruce would be lenient and give him a few minutes to recover before he’d join him. Or Jay would find a plausible excuse as to why Bruce couldn’t come in _right now_. Maybe it was the time to build a bomb or something equally dangerous. Just kidding, everything that Tony touched was perfectly safe and sane. So far he hadn’t blown up a single lab or workshop. Or an Iron Man suit. Only caves that held him prisoner had gone up in the air, yes.

“My coffee has always been coffee.” Tony stared at his own reflection inside of the elevator. “It was _Clint’s_ that got turned into shit.”

His reflection stopped talking the moment Tony’s mouth fell shut.

“I’m talking to myself,” he muttered. “What has the world come to?”

For a moment Tony thought that his reflection winked at him. But his eyes hadn’t batted a lid so – yeah, he was riled up from the Avengers’ accusation that he’d been yelling. Fucking _Howard,_ and his great ideas about how to raise a kid. It made Tony miss Jarvis’ soothing voice and Mama Rhodes’ warm hugs. Sometimes Tony missed the simplicity of being a teenager, all the troubles he had back then, so much easier to bear _– lies –_ in comparison to having the fate of the world resting on his shoulders.

YOU chirped when he left the elevator, the Tesseract already in his greedy claw.

“You want to play, kid?”

Enthusiastic nodding. Tony reached for the Tesseract carefully, placed it on his table before he grabbed the new frisbee from there.

“Catch.” With that he flung it through the workshop and YOU raced after it, his energy as unbridled as ever. Tony smiled, happy there was something that helped to take his mind off everything else for a little bit.

Eventually though, YOU had enough and retreated to charge his batteries for a second round later in the day. Tony was left to stare at the Tesseract, the unholy glowing bastard.

“I really can’t stand you, you know that?” He cocked his head to the side. The cube only continued to glow as if it hadn’t wronged Tony personally by being in his lab and taking up space. “On y va.” After all, he had to figure out how to build a portal and see how far JARVIS was with searching the files from SHIELD about Thanos’ home. Or, his _new home_ , that was.

Because as far as Tony remembered, Loki had dropped once that the Titans came from Titan. Which was embarrassingly obvious if Tony thought about it now. Perhaps Loki hadn’t been all too wrong in assuming that the Avengers were naïve children. It certainly had helped him to pull one over them. Tony wondered if that hadn’t been Loki warning them to some extent.

Although ‘warning’ was the wrong word. ‘Teasing’ fit the situation much better and was definitely more of a thing Loki would do. Tony still couldn’t believe that they’d all fallen for Loki’s sob story. Who the fuck trusted a well-known villain, especially when it came to changing sides? It was a good thing that the press hadn’t learnt about their alliance. They’d have a field day with them otherwise, and – Tony damn well could forgo that bloodbath at the moment.

It came to him as a surprise that none of the Avengers tried to talk to him. Not even Bruce bothered to show his face. Which was kind of _good_ because Tony enjoyed the time for himself; his mind alone, only busy with the keyboard beneath his fingers, the screen in front of him as he read through file after file.

Tony only got distracted from his task when he stumbled over a report about the alliance. It was heavily redacted, and it was near impossible to figure out what was written there. All that Tony could read was, ‘ _The Avengers_ _◼️◼️◼️_ _Not to accept would be a missed opportunity to gain insight of the enemy’s mind, here_ _◼️◼️◼️_ _It is recommended to_ _◼️◼️◼️_ _and Anthony E. Stark, who shows_ _◼️◼️◼️_ _. An unusual but to be suspected_ _◼️◼️◼️_ _. See report from 2010 on Anthony E. Stark.’_

“Okay.” Tony blinked. “Jay, I want to know who wrote that, about what, and what the full report is.”

_“I fear that is impossible, Sir.”_

“Lies. Everything is possible, after all we’re talking about you here. Find the uncensored version.”

_“It is my greatest pleasure, Sir.”_

“Of course it is. You get to sniff out possible secrets about me, things that _I_ don’t even know about. What greater pleasure can there be?”

JARVIS chose to respond by showing Tony the video of him featuring the red thong.

“Awww, Jay,” Tony cooed. “I didn’t know you kept that tape.”

_“I didn’t, Sir.”_

“Duh, you did.”

_“No.”_

A sigh. “If you insist, buddy. Then it probably was me.” Tony looked closer at the image of himself. “Yep, looks good. Keep the file.”

He pondered for a few seconds. “The report must come from Red. She was the one who wrote the _wonderful_ report about me three years ago. Which means that she knows something that I shouldn’t know about, correct?”

 _“It seems that way, Sir.”_ JARVIS’ voice was unusually hesitant. “Do you want me to call her down?”

“No, too easy.” Tony shook his head. “I don’t want to let her know that we know. We can’t play all our cards.”

“ _Wouldn’t it be an advantage to be open with the team?”_

“I’m reckless, not an idiot.” Tony tsk’ed. “If there’s something fishy going on I want to know more first before I confront her. Who knows if Barton isn’t in on this as well.”

_“Maybe not everyone is out to get you, Sir.”_

“As long as I don’t have the evidence for it, Jay, I won’t be as naïve. The alliance with Loki has shown us how that works out in the end, didn’t it?”

His AI didn’t respond anymore.

There were more reports about the alliance. Status reports, the biggest chunks were all blacked out. Not a single hint about _what_ had been discussed at the meetings. Any detail that Tony assumed would have brought him closer to learning something had been redacted. If anything, then Tony had to admire how thorough that person had been.

It wasn’t something he was used to seeing from SHIELD, unless Agent had done it. And even he was sloppy from time to time; although he was doing pretty well at playing dead. 

Not that Tony had known long about it. Actually, he –

He frowned. Since when did he know that Coulson was alive? Where did that certainty come from? Tony bit on his upper-lip, deep in thoughts. Coulson being dead had been a big issue the team’d had with Loki, a grudge that was neither easily forgiven nor forgotten. Yet, they _had_ tried to see the bigger picture and put the desire for vengeance aside, for the moment. Even Clint had managed, and he’d been the one Loki had under mind-control for a considerable amount of time.

But – as far as Tony remembered, they had never discussed the possibility that Agent was alive. No. The topic had been a taboo, a polite silence, only the occasional punchbag had to suffer their anger. Never Loki. Because they thought that they couldn’t risk their only ally with knowledge to run off and change his mind.

 _Well,_ Tony thought bitterly, _it seems they could have landed a punch or five and the outcome would have stayed the same._ He couldn’t wait for the moment Loki realised that the Avengers still managed to fuck him over, even after the betrayal. When he’d wagered himself safe on Thanos’ realm, far away and out of their reach – for now. Tony was doing his best to change that.

If he was any good at something apart from being handsome, charming, and intelligent, then it was to get his vengeance. People who wronged him had the undoubted pleasure of getting the special treatment. Something like that.

His head was starting to hurt again. Tony pinched his eyes shut, tried for the moment to blend every light and noise out. It didn’t do anything. Instead, it only seemed to make it worse. When Tony touched his forehead, he felt the blood pulse beneath his fingers.

Another headache. Just, exactly what he needed.

He rose from his chair to walk to his fridge where he stored drinks. Not only alcoholic ones but also _water_. Because he wasn’t as much of an alcoholic as everyone seemed to believe him to be. _Rude, all of them._ DUM-E brought him a small package of pills that promised relief. _Usually_ , Tony wouldn’t reach for pills right off, he tended to wait and see if the headache went away on its own. Retreated to where he had space and time for himself, ignoring everyone and everything that wanted to bother him.

But –

This was _not funny anymore._ The last time he’d gotten so many headaches in a row was when he used to be a minor. And not only from all the alcohol he consumed the night before, no. And Tony _needed_ his head to stay clear. From all things, to be incapable of thinking was the worst thing that could happen to him. His mind was one of his strongest suits.

And if his head was out?

Then Loki and in turn, Thanos, would win. The universe would be lost, _halved_. Sacrificed all in one big manic attempt to woo Lady Death.

Tony _still_ had trouble wrapping his head around that.

He felt something wet on his philtrum. Warm too.

“Oh no.”

When Tony touched it and took his hand away to inspect it, he was trying to be surprised to see blood on it.

Of course, he completely and utterly failed with that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With the biggest thanks to **NamelessyNightlock** <3

Tony Stark was a wise man. In fact, he was so wise, that he chose to keep the Tesseract a secret, that he agreed to an alliance with a well-known villain, tried to combat the fate of the entire universe on his own and kept explicit material of himself stored safely away for later purposes. Not that these intentions were in any way relevant to what he was doing. But Tony liked to think that the knowledge of having explicit material was helping him to get through these hard and difficult times.

His hands were bound to the chair and DUM-E stood in front of him, the fire extinguisher held like a gun in his claw. Ready to shoot within a moment’s notice. Of course, this hadn’t been DUM-E’s idea alone. Not his sweet DUM-E, his sweet baby with the remarkable code that was still functional at this day and age. No.

The traitor was still within his ranks though. Tony shot a venomous glare at Clint who sat perched atop Tony’s poor worktable. Like a fucking falcon, and _yes_ , Tony had thought ‘falcon’ on purpose.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked.

“Because JARVIS informed me that you’ve been out cold for at least half an hour now after you got a nosebleed.” Clint blinked lazily. He didn’t seem to have any problems with sitting like that, no trembling to see in his thighs anywhere. The perfidy! Secretly, Tony admired the strength Clint must have in his legs. “You didn’t respond and I had to perform CPR on you.”

“What.”

“You should think about your caffeine consumption. That was all I tasted. Coffee. Not bad, per se. I’m not sure it’s healthy though.”

“Are _you_ trying to lecture me right now?”

“No. I’m asking you for your permission to make out with you when Natasha steals my coffee maker.”

“Get DUM-E’s fire extinguisher out of my face, then we’ll talk some more about that.”

“No.” Clint leant the smallest bit forward. “Did you hear me when I said that you almost died on the floor?”

“I do that every morning.”

DUM-E chirped angrily.

“Your bot says you’re lying.” Clint nodded. “And you have a red trail all over your chin.”

“It’s a fashion statement.”

“Damn right. And Banner is most likely interested in seeing it in person.”

Tony groaned. He didn’t think that Clint was going to budge at this rate. Which was a shame. A true, true shame because Tony rather wanted to be doing things other than arguing with one of the resident spies that ate his cheese. “I don’t think he wants to. Birdy, I merely passed out. Probably not enough sleep and managed to hit my nose badly enough that it started bleeding.”

“Interesting.” Clint tilted his head. “I have barely seen you around recently, Tony.”

 _Oh no._ Tony swallowed as he heard how Clint’s voice changed. As it became less neutral, more _worried_. It was absolutely not at all what he fucking wanted. He hated when people did that, became curious about him and wanted to make sure he was doing all right. Which – okay, that sounded a bit hypocritical, but Tony didn’t like the thought that people only ever asked about his health when he was _publicly_ humiliating himself or suffered enough that more than one eyebrow shot up in the air.

“You had a lot of headaches recently?”

“What?”

Clint climbed down from the table, the fucking weirdo. “There’s a bunch of empty aspirin packets laying around, and ibuprofen.” The spy shrugged.

“And what if I had them?”

Clint came closer. “That it’s for sure curious because everyone’s been having headaches lately.”

Okay, those were news to Tony. A frown crossed his face. “Since when?”

“After the battle.” Clint patted DUM-E and _the traitor went away._ “Headaches after a battle are normal for me, but for Natasha? Rarer. She gets those more when she uh – you know?”

“Ah.” Tony cleared his throat. “Yes.”

“Yes. Glad we understand each other. But she’s been having those as well and I know because _my pills_ are disappearing quietly. Steve is drinking water to no end and avoids TVs. Thor is – he’s eating more PopTarts than usual and tries to be quiet for once.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

“I can’t say I noticed anything about Bruce.” Tony stood up from his chair after Clint undid the ropes. “But he’s been more quiet.”

“Migraines.” Clint nodded. “But this is why I’m here. Of course, JARVIS also told me that his Sir was laying on the ground unconscious but that’s another matter. Or maybe not. I just think it’s hilarious that the entire team has been having headaches and migraines since the battle.”

“Ah.” Tony spit into the hem of his shirt, and rubbed the by now dried blood off his face. “You’re the only one who noticed that?”

“Yep. The resident genius was, after all, hiding out in his bunker.”

“Thank you,” Tony said, sending Clint a grin. “Do you want me to take you out for a coffee now, as a repayment for the compliment?”

“Yes.”

“Consider it as done when the world is no longer ending.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

They shared another grin before Tony turned serious. As much as he didn’t want to – the entire team having _headaches_ , even fucking Thor, was… that wasn’t something to be neglected. Especially since it had been going on for a few days now and it didn’t look as if the pain was going to disappear any time soon.

_And the **mysterious** appearance of the Tesseract –_

Tony wasn’t sure if he liked where this was going. “We’re having a team meeting then?”

“Yes.” Clint sent him an unreadable look. “Would you mind making sandwiches for us?”

“Me? Why?”

“Because yours taste the best and I’m making coffee.”

“Clint, are you all right?” Tony asked worriedly. “That’s the second time you’re paying a compliment to me and none of them have been about my ass.”

“Your ass looks amazing. Can I get more sandwiches than Natasha?”

Tony agreed. Flattery got people everywhere and it was no hardship to make more sandwiches. And Tony enjoyed making those and figuring out what everybody liked and what not. It was a bit like doing science, only less dangerous – unless you served Thor the sandwich on something other than a PopTart. _Then_ you truly had to run as your life was in peril.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about your nose bleeding and passing out though.”

“Wouldn’t have dreamt of it,” Tony grumbled. Perhaps he’d been hoping for exactly that. After all, wasn’t this why he was going to make sandwiches? So that Clint would shut up about what he’d seen in the workshop?

“Good.” Clint opened the door to the Avengers’ living room. “Tony’s making sandwiches, and I coffee,” he announced. “The rest of you will stay here and wait, then we’ll go and talk about what moves our most inner-selves.”

A collective groan.

At least they had the Team-thinking going on for them.

\- ⍰ -

Tony expected rude looks or someone telling him that scanning brains wasn’t going to help the team. He didn’t expect the team to nod, to _agree_ with him. It honestly – came as a shock to him. His jaw might have dropped open as feelings he hadn’t seen coming rose in him. That was kind of a sad statement but Tony couldn’t care one whit less. They _agreed_ with him. His inner child was cheering right now and waving banners. You know the kind of supportive banners that you saw at football games, cheering the team on to run and throw the ball until someone died. That sort of thing.

“Time for science!” He stole Clint’s mug of coffee and ran to the door. “Two floors down, first there gets the first scan!”

Of course Tony was the second one who arrived in the medical bay because nobody should ever underestimate Cap and his ridiculous speed. He ran like he was a Ferrari on two legs, just ridiculous. Yet it made Tony wonder if he shouldn’t sign Cap up for a drag race. Not as a driver, but as a living vehicle. Could be fun? He needed to talk with him about that later.

Clint stared at the CT as if it had personally bitten his dog.

“So what are we going to look for?” Thor asked, bless his gentle and curious soul.

“Your brain,” Tony said in a dry tone. “Kidding. What we’re going to do is a CT-scan, to look for changes or diseases.”

Thor nodded. “It is similar to our Soul Forge then.”

“…I guess?” Tony tilted his head curiously. “You know, at the end of this, why don’t you and I sit down for a couple of beers and you tell me all about the Soul Forge?” If someone accused him of being an opportunist, then they’d be damn right about it. But Tony wouldn’t let that slip through his fingers; he knew that he’d never go to Asgard because of some ridiculous law that prohibited him from going there. So, if words and tales were all he’d get, then he’d take them. All.

“Hey Doc,” Clint called out.

“Yes?” Tony and Bruce replied at the same time. There was a minimal moment of awkward silence.

“Banner.” Clint rolled his eyes. “If one of us were to have nose bleeds and kept fainting, how high is the chance it’s related to the headache?”

 _Traitor_ , Tony mouthed. The assassin only winked at him before his face turned serious again.

“Did you pass out, Tony?”

“I have the right to remain silent.” 

Tony stared at Clint. He was going to eat him later. With mustard. And a well-toasted piece of toast. Yep.

“You have.” Bruce nodded. “Therefore, you’ll be the first one to go. I’m sure Steve doesn’t mind.”

“Oh, not at all.” Steve looked worried.

Fucking traitors.

All of them.

\- ⍰ -

They all had some scarring in their brain where the hippocampus was. They knew because there was no baseline and it was only mildly terrifying. Tony thought it was terrifying because that shit implied in concert-volume that something or _someone_ had done something vile to their brains. And if there was something that Tony _had_ to rely on, then it was his brain. The funny thing was that most of the group didn’t have a _big_ amount of scar in their head.

That honour was solely reserved for Tony. It kind of explained why his nose kept bleeding and continued to faint because having a blood clot wasn’t great. Not that anyone was surprised by it, but hey – some people were.

For Tony it was… he wasn’t crying although he damn sure felt like it. Again, another fucking Damocles’ sword hanging over his head. It was again like with the Palladium Poisoning. Just another fucking death threat he’d have to deal with. To distract himself from his worries with his head – haha, good joke – he’d called for another team meeting.

It was time for a big and ultimate Brain Storming. He didn’t care that it was getting toward 10pm or even later. JARVIS ordered food in and the coffee machine was turned on because they would all need it. Nobody would leave this room until they’d found a solution. Unless someone fell asleep because of mental exhaustion, that was the only way Tony would excuse anyone. A nap of three hours was more than enough for everyone, and that was the mark where Tony would wake the sleeper up, too.

There was coffee and he was sure that Bruce hid some other interesting stuff in his cabinets that would help make people feel less tired.

Was he cruel? Yes. Okay, maybe debatable, but he wasn’t going to give a shit.

Someone had fucking tampered with their brains and –

Considering the location of where the scarring was, it was most likely that they all suffered from some memory loss.

The good thing about it? The entire team took the situation seriously and were drinking coffee and tea as if their lives depended on it.

The bad thing? Tony was getting another headache.

“Can we say what point of our lives the scarring concerns?”

“No.” Bruce sighed. “We don’t have the technology or a good enough understanding of our brains for that yet.”

Thor looked saddened. They probably didn’t understand brains well enough on Asgard to help them out here, either. Not that this came as a surprise because Asgard had raised Loki and if that wasn’t a monumental mistake, then nothing else was. The thought of Loki made Tony grit his teeth, his hands balled into fists. Natasha gave him a pencil.

Tony took a breath, then started to aggressively scribble something down on the paper. The notes didn’t make much sense but it helped him.

  * Hippocampus/Memory -> Avengers, collectively. -> Weaken the enemy? = Loki???
  * Hippocampus = attack -> TS signs of worsening condition. -> Rest of team stable??



o Why TS? Bc Genius of group? Money? Taking out the biggest threat?

  * End? => Kill Iron Man, get AI, control over business market?
  * Check Pepper threats 2 SI!
  * Common memories????
  * Technology to see concerned dates??



o Re common memories -> which? Check!

  * Reminder Memories differ for people (reasons, ask Nat), check with video footage, JARVIS
  * ~~JARVIS loyal?~~



Tony stared at the last point. He couldn’t say how or where the thought had come from but – he trusted his head. For the moment. Because JARVIS should have said something about the memories and what Tony was doing, or if he was behaving abnormally. There was the chance that Tony was carrying on as usual, that nothing had changed but – he didn’t believe it.

One just had to remember the sandwich from earlier. That _wasn’t_ normal.

“My friend,” Thor leaned over, “do you not trust your devi-“

Tony clamped his hand shut over Thor’s mouth, a silent, ‘ _don’t_ ’. Thor’s eyes went wide. Tony reached for his phone with the other hand. Freed Thor’s mouth and rubbed his temples, his eyes fluttering shut –

Let himself fall to the side where Thor sat –

Now that he was on Thor’s lap, his hands beneath the table where JARVIS didn’t see, pulled out his phone and turned his AI off. Just … like that.

“TONY?”

He got up again from Thor’s lap, gave the thigh a pat in thanks.

“I think JARVIS is compromised. I turned him off.”

That was how all hell broke loose at 1am in Avengers’ Tower.

\- ⍰ -

It took them all a while to calm down again and to assure them (Bruce) that Tony’s headache wasn’t bad enough to make him faint. He was sure there was some time left before he needed to do that. More coffee was consumed and someone paid the poor woman who delivered way too many boxes of pizza. One day they would all burst from too much fat consumption.

“We found something earlier,” Natasha announced out of the blue.

“What?”

“I –“ she cleared her throat. “I showed it to Clint earlier. He agreed that we should first wait for the results of the team meeting and how everyone reacts before we drop that bomb.”

Thor chuckled. “Is it so bad, Red?”

“It’s not _funny,_ for sure.” Natasha nodded at Tony’s phone that showed JARVIS’ offline status. “But I doubt that anything else will shock us at this point.” She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

“It’s a betting pool,” Clint explained.

Tony felt his eyebrows shot up. “About Loki … _and me?”_

“Apparently.” Natasha looked at him with her cold green eyes. “Tony, why would we all bet on you and Loki?”

“There are no names on it or wagers.” Tony pointed out with a frown.

“And yet, I can remember talking to everyone except you about it.” Natasha stopped blinking. “I found the paper in my pillowcase earlier.”

“I don’t remember it,” Thor threw in.

They all started talking.

Tony only stared at the piece of paper blankly, not sure what to say. What to think about it. That wasn’t entirely correct, he _was_ thinking about it. Tried to come up with an idea as to why the Team would make bets about him and _Loki_. There hadn’t been any reason to –

As far as Tony could remember. Wasn’t that the problem, that it was only as far as he _could_ remember?

… what did the others remember? Thor stated he couldn’t remember the betting pool, while Natasha could. Alarm bells went off in Tony’s head. Something was not right here.

“How about we all compare our memories,” Tony suggested calmly. “Because we know something is fucked up inside of our heads; Natasha found a betting pool that no one but her can remember and is fascinatingly empty but she stored it away in her pillowcase like the suspicious spy that she is.”

“What are you thinking, Tony?” Bruce sounded like he needed more tea.

“That someone is playing us.” He reached for the paper that Natasha gave him willingly. “And that someone might just be a lunatic Norse god who is remarkably absent right now.”

“Loki?” Thor frowned. “I don’t see why he would change our memories.”

“Well, neither do I. But this is Loki so I’m not trying to make a lot of sense out of this. Remember when he warned us about that big bad guy, Thanos? And then had no scruple with betraying us to crawl back to said guy?”

Thor looked ashamed at the mention of Loki’s betrayal. Tony suspected that Thor simply had been enthused at the prospect of his brother turning a new leaf, becoming one of the “good guys” in some way. The betrayal must have cut deep, he realised with a new understanding. In Thor’s eyes, Loki must be his Obadiah. Just, that Loki had… yeah. Tony promised silently to buy more poptarts and mead for Thor when they had a quiet minute. Maybe sacrifice a toaster that Thor could take his feelings out on.

“Okay, let’s start with the memories.” Natasha tipped her chin. “What do we remember about the team meetings where Loki was concerned?”

“He left immediately after,” Steve started. “He didn’t stick around.”

A collective nod.

“Thor, did you ever try to approach him?” Natasha asked, her voice cold. “Because I don’t remember you doing so.”

Tony frowned at that, tried to recall memories of Thor approaching Loki because – Lebowski _must_ have. It would have been unlike him not to do so. And Thor nodded slowly, his face a grave mask. “I did. I cannot remember if I succeeded but I followed him more than once out of the conference room when he went to make tea.”

“I had _tea_ for the dude in the kitchen?” Tony blinked. “That’s news to me.”

“In his kitchen, aye.”

Tony frowned. “What do you mean, _his kitchen?”_

Thor looked at him. Looked at his other teammates but they all were confused by Thor’s words. “That he had his own rooms. They were a bit further down because Loki hasn’t been fond of heights since his fall.”

“I gave him _rooms?”_ Tony looked at Bruce who was… _shocked_ as well. They all were. Well, all except for Thor because the man just didn’t seem to have as much scarring in his head as they did. Tony wanted to punch something. “Where was it?”

“It was the –“ Thor broke off. “I can’t remember which rooms. I only know they were further down.”

“Can’t we look at the surveillance footage and see from there?” Steve asked.

Tony nodded and pulled his phone out again. He had a sinking feeling in his gut, a suspicion as to what he would find in the footage or rather what they would _not_ find there.

“It’s been deleted,” he announced not even two seconds later with no surprise. “Entirely. JARVIS must have been compromised for longer than I feared and scratched _everything_. At the moment, not even what is been said in this room, is stored anywhere. It’s a phantom recording.”

“Nat?” Clint asked slowly. “Why don’t you write _everything_ down, on paper and copy it at least a dozen times. In case we forget this _meeting_?”

“You think that’s possible?” Steve asked slowly.

“Yes.”

It was Clint who pointed out the logic (maybe) behind the memory loss. Honestly, Tony was growing quite ashamed of himself. He couldn’t hold his title of “genius” on the team, no – instead, Clint was taking over and was getting way ahead of them all.

“You have to look at it from Loki’s perspective.” Clint shook his head. “I’m not sure if that is correct but the way this is going? Nat, I need more coffee and I want a dog after this. Tony, I don’t care if you’re afraid of them –“

“Only horses.”

“Well, awesome. What if this is all a bigger trick. A scheme to make us look this way while something else, something _big_ is going on at the same time? And if Loki is perceived by us as the enemy –“ Clint made a gagging noise. “I’m only going to say this once and then we’ll never talk about it again; but if we’re seen as Loki’s enemies, nobody will suspect that he’s still trying to kill Thanos while Loki, that bastard also leaves us alone so he can do his thing.”

Tony’s head started hurting. His nose was bleeding again.

Something _big_ was happening? Like him and Bruce trying to do something with the Tesseract that might kill Thanos and free them all from his mad plan? He wiped the blood away, and pinched his eyes shut in the hope that nobody would notice.

“You’re bleeding again.” Steve, calm, worried. He gave Tony a tissue that smelled faintly of eucalyptus. Tony took it with a small smile, and pressed it against his nose.

“A tampon would help more.” Natasha tilted her head. “Do you want one?”

Tony shrugged, pressing the tissue more against his nose, hoping the bleeding would stop. He’d already had tampons in his nose a few times, and it hadn’t felt particularly _great_. The invasive thing was like a feeding tube from a hospital and tickled his nose from the inside out. Just, weird. Tony was glad he didn’t have to use tampons on a regular basis somewhere else; he could only imagine how weird it would be, having it... somewhere else. Yeah. No. Thanks.

“Tony?” Natasha sounded much closer, her hand on his shoulder, steadying him. He was dangerously swaying on his feet, black spots already dancing in front of his eyes again. This wasn’t _good_. It had been only a few hours since he’d last fallen unconscious. “Tony, I need you to lay down.”

He nodded, hearing only bits but lowered himself. Probably too quickly as he felt –

Like he was on a carousel. The tissue had fallen away.

“Friend Tony–“

_Thor?_

Tony opened his eyes to a slit, peering at the others. None looked like they were going to mock him – of course, they didn’t, _not in front of him._

“That isn’t fun anymore,” Tony gritted out. His stomach was turning and he patted the ground, felt around, in the hope there were no shoes. He just – wanted to press his head against something cool, it usually helped a bit. The floor was empty, and he heard shuffling sounds as he pressed his forehead against the wood. Breathed in. _Out._ Nothing was _simple_ about this whole matter.

His head was like a hammer, hurting him over and over again until he was nothing but smashed potato on the ground, his brain a lovely shade of ketchup to collect for whoever felt like being the zombie of the group. Tony was betting on Clint. Too clever. The clever ones always went first.

After all, this was why he was on the ground, trying to blend out every noise he heard and felt.

A breath. Another one.

Someone put something above his head, blending out more light that got turned off quickly too as he just –

Laid there. Tried to get it under his control.

JARVIS would usually know what to do. JARVIS. Who the fuck had allowed his AI to be compromised? Not him, certainly.

Another bolt of pure pain and then –

The room was still dark when he woke up again. A hand was pressed against his forehead, cold and wonderful and Tony leant against the touch with a small whimper. The coldness became stronger; a blessing. Not a few moments later, his eyes fluttered shut once more.

\- ⍰ -

Tony woke up, feeling disorientated. A pillow had been stuffed under his head and he was no longer on the floor. His head felt… _calm_. As if he’d taken a bath in a cold pond and felt collected again afterwards. That was… interesting.

“J?” he asked into the darkness.

No response.

He frowned for a second, worried about what had happened to his AI until he remembered _what_ had transpired. A sigh fell from his lips. He got up slowly from his bed, his movements unhurried but with purpose. Who knew how much time had passed since his head went to attack him? Which was truly bothersome because, wow, the rudeness. Not like Tony needed his head in any way at all, no. And wasn’t he taking good care of it either? Giving it challenges, and making sure things never got boring? This was the thanks he got. A scar.

Tony wanted to yell at someone. Quietly. With his fists. Preferably an agent from HYDRA, those bastards deserved it after all.

He found the rest of the Avengers in the communal kitchen. It was shortly before 9 am and croissants were piled on a plate.

“If you hadn’t woken up by yourself, we’d have sent Bruce to wake you.” Clint grinned at Tony and pushed a mug of coffee towards him. Tony took the offering gratefully. His dearly beloved black liquid that made his brain work. Clint understood him so _well_ , it was almost scary.

Tony nodded then drained his mug. Refilled it, emptied it half way. Ate a croissant although he didn’t feel hungry. Bruce gave him magnesium powder with a raised eyebrow. Tony emptied it without any complaint, then washed the bad taste away by putting more coffee inside of him. Gradually he started to feel human again, awake, and well enough to interact.

JARVIS was out of commission. He had to change that soon.

“I’ll be back in a second–“ He stood up hurriedly, raced towards his workshop. There were a few other AIs he’d hoped he’d never have to use because JARVIS was his baby but oh well – When he got JARVIS back, then he’d simply have two AIs running; J was most likely in need of an assistant anyway. Maybe the other one could be more focused on Avengers’ business.

FRIDAY was up and running within a few moments. It took a few more seconds to update her to JARVIS’ latest backup, then she started to copy and insert it into her own database. Tony nodded, satisfied, as he made his way back to the Avengers.

They all looked at him as if they’d seen a ghost. Well, RIP to them.

“My friends, this is FRIDAY. Say hi.”

“Hi.”

 _“A pleasure.”_ FRIDAY’s voice made most of them (especially Clint) jump in their seats. “ _Please remain seated.”_

“Day one and already cracking jokes.” Tony wiped an imaginary tear away. “That’s my baby girl.”

“Did you just – make her?”

“Nope.” Tony grinned at Steve. Sweet, innocent, naïve fool. “I made her a while ago. AIs are a challenge and fun to develop.” He shrugged. “She’s not compromised, we’ve already agreed to have a backup of every backup from now on and the surveillance material is stored in three different places; it should be safe from being tampered with.”

“Let’s hope my brother’s seiðr agrees with that.”

Tony arched a brow. “We agree it’s Loki’s hocus-pocus then that did it?”

“It’s the most obvious conclusion and it makes sense with what we discovered.” Natasha pointed at the empty chair. “Sit down, we’ll catch you up on what we found out in the last five hours.”

“What, I’ve been only out for five?”

“Felt longer?” Clint’s tone was oddly sympathetic. “Migraines do that to you, man.”

Tony sat down, refilled his coffee. It was freshly brewed, courtesy of Clint most likely. “So, tell me what you got.”

Steve sighed. “Nothing good. We can’t agree on anything. Except that Loki is an insensitive bastard who kept insulting us. The insults we all remember are wild and vast, never the same. Tell me Tony, what outfit did Loki wear at the last meeting?”

Taken aback, Tony frowned. “Green coat with white fur, gold embellishments. It sadly looked rather striking on him.”

“Funny you say that.” Steve held his gaze. “Because I remember him wearing a green tunic with leather, Thor says it was Loki’s battle-outfit since we were about to go to war. Natasha swears Loki vanished his pants at some point, Clint says he can’t remember because he had better things to do than to stare at Loki because the uhm–“ Steve cleared his throat delicately. “ _–Unresolved Sexual Tension,_ annoyed him to no end.”

“…what unresolved sexual tension?” _Now_ Tony felt more than curious. “Which one of us was horny for the bastard?”

A silence fell over them which one might have called awkward.

Steve broke it. Good ol’ Steve, with his sensible way and carefully put words.

“Tony, you have a certain _reputation._ ”

“I didn’t fuck Loki!”

Natasha cleared her throat delicately. Steve blushed.

Tony stared at them all in growing horror. “No!”

“Tony.” Thor stared at him. Tony wasn’t sure if it was murder written in those stormy blue eyes, or homicide. “You and Loki, by all accounts, should have bantered and argued because you both argue for the fun of it and throw around insults or comments to test your audience’s waters. I have no memory of either of you doing so.”

“I searched the Tower for Loki’s rooms,” Clint added with a smirk. “There are none. Only our rooms.”

“But I–“

“You moved _downstairs,_ Tony.” Clint’s mouth twitched. “Because Thor is less likely to break the Tower if he can access the sky from the penthouse.”

“You’re not reminded of the occasion either where Loki decided to throw you out of the Tower,” Natasha added. “And you’re closer to your workshop, too.”

“I have memories of you both arguing,” Bruce threw in. “In a calm and collected manner. Without any flirty or sexy remarks. Tony. You made a joke about his stamina and you want to make me believe that you didn’t do so again at some point during the team meetings?”

“You banter, Tony. It’s your way of interacting with people.” Steve sighed. “That none of us remembers you doing so is…” he waved with his hands around. “ _Suspicious.”_

“Because I didn’t banter with the enemy? That’s why you think Loki and I fucked?”

“Yes.” Clint turned serious. “Tony, we all have scarring in our brains. The only one who is badly affected is _you_. We are certain that this is on Loki. Why would it be so much worse for him if there wasn’t more to hide?”

Bruce chimed in, his voice so sweet and calm. “Your brain has taken more damage than any of ours. You’ve seen the scans. When we tried to talk about Loki or what’s going on here, you start getting a headache and then your nose bleeds, as if your body is trying to scare you off from going any deeper.”

“Nobody thinks bad of you for fucking Loki.” Natasha shrugged. “We had an alliance going on, it wasn’t like any of us wasn’t compromised. Thor didn’t kill you so we can assume that you didn’t screw his little brother too hard.”

Thor made an ‘ _ew’_ face.

Tony?

Tony stared at the table. His hands. His mind was racing, taking in all that he’d heard. It made – logically, it made so much sense. Loki didn’t look bad, they all knew that he was one of the clever sorts too so – he _was_ one of Tony’s types. He had no problems with admitting that Loki was handsome. But –

He – simply had higher expectations of himself. Maybe. He thought he’d never fuck the enemy and hearing that he _had_? Betrayed his _friends_ , when he’d suspected them of doing it first?

His view was _screwed_. He couldn’t _rely_ on his memory anymore. His head wasn’t workable, not in the way it used to be. It was like a punch from One Punch Man. Just, hit where it hurt and it felt like he couldn’t get up anymore.

Natasha said they’d been allies. It was fine. _Fine._

It didn’t feel like it was fine.

Apologies sat heavy on his tongue, too sincere to ever utter them because Tony couldn’t – this was fine, completely fine, and not –

“Look, if I wasn’t satisfied with Clint, I probably would have tried my luck with Loki too and made him kneel.”

Natasha’s voice startled Tony from his whirl storm of thoughts. “ _What?”_ he croaked.

“He’s handsome, he’s proud. He’s an insufferable git and I wouldn’t mind finding out what it would take to make him mewl in pleasure, until he’s nothing but a confused, sated mess.” Natasha shrugged.

“I can’t believe I just heard you saying that,” Clint whimpered. “ _Nat_ –“

“Зайчик.”

“That’s disgusting,” Tony quipped.

“I hope so.” Nat sounded smug. “Don’t beat yourself up for fucking Loki. It happens. We’re still here and kicking.”

“Red, you’re being unexpectedly nice about this.”

“It wasn’t you who took my memory and played around with my head.” She smiled sweetly. “I’ll leave his dick whole for you, Tony. Don’t worry. But I might take his balls for what he did.”

“That’s. I’m not sure if that’s disturbing or hot.”

Her smile became even sweeter. “And if it turns out that you _had_ a hand in it, I’ll take your dick and leave your balls, so you two can be a match.”

“That’s less hot, more disturbing.” But it worked. Tony was _back_ , no longer lost in his head. He had to worry about his dick and his memory. And he had to beat Clint when it came to the genius title. No chance he’d let the archer take it without a fight. It was already embarrassing enough.

“Good, so I probably fucked Loki and lost more memories because of that. What’s the next thing that follows? Did we go back to the beginning of it all yet? Or are we still in the middle?”

“The middle,” Thor said gravely. “We never went back to the beginning. We didn’t think of that. Too occupied with what we had in front of us.” A smile flitted over his face. “I feel like we’re finally catching up to Loki.”

“Me too, and it’s scaring me.” Steve rubbed his face.

“Good. Beginning.” Tony stood up again and opened the window, then sat back down. His leg started bouncing. He leant forward. “We caught Loki in Central Park, two months ago. Give or take a few days. Agreed?”

A nod from all.

“We took him back to the Tower in shackles that dampened his magic for a while.”

Nod.

“In the Tower, Loki started talking about a mad guy who tries to court Lady Death. That the universe is at stake. Something about his mother-?”

Thor frowned. “Loki tries not to mention mother; it is a delicate subject that he wouldn’t wish to be vulnerable about in public.”

“He talked about his honour and some oath he swore as a former prince of Asgard.” Steve frowned. “That it was his duty to see that Asgard was not attacked by an enemy and invaded successfully.”

Alarm bells rang in Tony’s head.

“That he was trained and groomed to take on those that would harm the Tree.” Natasha stared at the ceiling. “That balance was important and Thanos would ruin it.”

“That a trick against Thanos would be the least thing Thanos would expect and that life is too short to live it plainly; why not spice it up.” Clint took a sip from his coffee.

“Bruce?” Tony gently asked. His friend had turned pale. “What did he say?”

“That he wished not to be the monster everybody made him into. That he wanted to prove he’s more than that.”

Tony nodded. “I thought so.” A grin formed on his face. It felt hollow. “We all apparently heard what reminds us of _us_.”

“He told me that he wished to do right.” Thor sounded lost. “And that we could trust his rage if not his words.”

“And I think,” Tony said, “that you were the only one who spoke the truth just now. Which makes me think that you, with your minimal brain scarring, are our lighthouse. And if we’re correct that Loki and I fucked, my memories are the ones we should trust the least. Unless it’s so mad and absolutely crazy that it can only be true.”

Bruce started coughing.

Yep, Tony also just remembered the Tesseract project that was hidden away in his workshop. Coincidence, huh?

“I have alliances penned down. Collaborations. They’re all business contracts. I learnt my lesson after Obadiah.” Tony smiled bitterly. “FRIDAY, would you be so kind-?”

 _“Of course, Boss._ ” His AI sounded delighted. “ _I love looking at compromised files.”_

“That’s the spirit.” Tony toasted to her with his coffee.

The rest were _shooketh_ , to put it politely.

“I remember that Loki and I signed a contract. Bit blurry. And if my theory from earlier is correct, then this should be the furthest thing from the truth because Loki would never _sign_ anything.”

Thor agreed, his voice grave. “He made sure that his name has been erased from the Book of Hel, allowing him to be _reborn_ should he die.”

“So, he’s basically an immortal fucker, even more so than before.” Tony nodded sagely.

“That’s impressive.” Clint sighed. “Someone tell me where to go to get my name scratched out of the book, too.”

“To Hel.” Thor grinned. “My niece. Good luck, my friend. You do not wish to know what Loki had to do to manage it.”

“He probably tricked her, let’s be real.” Tony’s voice was as dry as his throat felt. _More coffee, yep._

 _“Boss, I found something.”_ FRIDAY sounded intrigued. “ _The date of the video has been changed, but the content is not that old. And it asks for a password.”_

“A password.”

 _“Yes, Boss.”_ FRIDAY sent the video to his phone. _“I have to warn you that by accessing this footage, your phone will most likely be attacked by various viruses and spam; probably one porn pop-up or five.”_

“God, what year do we live in? 2008?” Clint rolled his eyes.

“Yes.” Tony replied earnestly. “And now you all need to shut up, I have to think.” He tapped on his homescreen, until a hologram appeared on the table – a keyboard like he had in his workshop. He let another hologram appear that showed him the password, another one that showed him the code.

Because of course, he had no fucking clue anymore what the password could be. How could he? The alliance had been important, as far as evidence went. So, naturally, it got deleted. Tony couldn’t stop the grin as he felt challenged – and, it seemed, by no-one other than himself. Because who else would do something so hilariously simple as to change the date of a video if not him? Either he’d distrusted Loki enough to move the video back or –

Yeah, okay, there was an idea forming in the back of his mind. It had been agreed upon that this video _would_ still be accessible to him. After some test to prove his worth or some kind of bullshit to himself and Loki – because that sounded so much like him indeed. Tony of the past probably went, “Wouldn’t it be hilarious to test myself? If I fail, then I know I’m not a genius. If I win? I won, Reindeer Games.”

And Loki would have accepted the challenge with a laugh and thought about all the headaches Tony would have in the future and let him have his fun. Afterwards, they’d fuck in whatever room they were in or Loki would use his magic to transport them to a free bed and _okay_ , now his thoughts were getting away from him. So rude. It also didn’t help that they took on a rather gutter-like form because that was – uh. Yeah.

Tony blamed the Avengers for that. They put the idea in his head that he and Loki had something going on between them. Their fault.

And okay, his mood was rapidly changing again. He assumed it was simply that he felt like he was doing something. Something _useful,_ that challenged his head and mind, did not leave him blank and only to scribble thoughts down on a paper. That was good but not good enough for one Tony Stark. The opposite.

He noticed as his fingers flew over the keyboard as he tried a backdoor tactic to get around using a password; it was a tactic Loki would approve of. Tony was more of a – _attack first, plan later_ guy but Loki? Tricks. Manipulations. A magician as they were written in books and shown on TV. There was nothing simple about Loki – and there shouldn’t be, right? It would be _too easy_ otherwise.

Tony reached for his cup, drinking his coffee greedily, kept typing with one hand. It delayed his work somewhat, but not – he could catch up on that, mere thirty seconds in delay. All good. Easy. He was writing faster, the code starting to crumble before him as he saved his changes.

“Thirty-six minutes, twelve seconds.” Clint whistled. “And here I was already thinking that you’d lost your touch, Tony.”

“Never.” He grinned, as brilliant and stunning as always. “Now–“ He hit _play_ on the video. “Everyone shut the fuck up, Daddy is showing y’all a movie.”

“Never call yourself ‘daddy’ again,” Bruce muttered. “By all that’s holy–“

“Shhhh.” Tony waved at him.

**_Then_ **

_Loki sat on the couch, his gaze intense. He and Tony were alone, the rest of the team not there anymore._

_‘So, what was so important that you needed to speak to me alone, Reindeer Games?’ Tony’s voice was dry. ‘Do you want to collect the drink I promised you all that time ago?’_

_‘If you feel like taking my shackles off for it, then yes.’ Loki grinned as if he heard a joke that was solely intended for him._

_‘Aaah, sorry but I don’t trust-trust you.’_

_‘Wherein lies my problem.’ Loki shook his head. ‘Stark, be serious for once in your life.’_

_‘Serious?’ Tony was about to make another joke when he took in Loki’s grave facial expression. ‘All right. Hit me up, Buttercup.’ He made an inviting gesture._

_‘I do not like betrayal.’ Loki lifted his chin. ‘I cannot trust anyone on this team **not** to betray me should opportunity present itself.’_

_‘None of us would betray you.’ Tony sat down opposite Loki, his back to the camera. ‘We’re not like you.’_

_‘I have never betrayed anyone.’ Loki sounded angry. ‘Not unless I have been betrayed first. If I give my oath, then I hold onto it.’_

_‘That’s cute. I don’t tend to wait until people betray me, I rather catch them beforehand and get them into prison.’_

_‘So, you do not trust me and have no intention of doing so.’_

_‘Damn right. Trust is earned, Loki. And you have so far done almost nothing to earn it. I have to give it to you that you came to us to get Thanos. But – with your track record?’ Tony shook his head. ‘Nope.’_

_Loki gritted his teeth, it was obvious that whatever he was going to say, hurt him already. ‘I promise to discuss every move with you beforehand. You will know what is going to happen and have the chance, however small, to stop me from doing it if you come up with a better idea or have a sound argument against it.’_

_Tony was quiet for a while, mulling the words over in his head. ‘In return, I promise to hear you out and discuss every move from my side as well with you. I do not wish to be betrayed by you for as long as we are allies.’_

_A gleam appeared in Loki’s eyes and he visibly relaxed. ‘I agree and accept your terms, Anthony Stark.’_


	3. Chapter 3

**_Now_ **

The Avengers were silent after the video ended. It had only been a minute – if even that.

“The betrayal wasn’t a betrayal,” Steve summarised. He sounded as tired as Tony felt. Like their worst fears had come true and nothing was as it should be. Evil turned grey, turned good, turned grey, nothing simple remained. Only complicated truths that weren’t confirmed, only had various theories that slotted together well for the moment. There was a chance that later they wouldn’t fit anymore, after they’d regained more information.

Tony felt… _drained._ Uncertainty was an enemy, and he could not _envision_ how it would be in twenty minutes from now. He simply – couldn’t say and it partially killed him. Of course it was interesting. Tony wanted to know more – but – there was too much change and stress going on at once. He wished back the seconds when he was typing on his keyboard, the world so simple for a time. Everything blending into the background, numbers and letters running over the hologram in front of him, everything dark and green.

How was it merely 10am? By all accounts, it should be way after midnight already. The day had the aura of a marathon that didn’t stop, had them climb up Everest before taking a dive into the Mariana Trench. No time for a break, no restroom in sight, only running, running, running –

Until one of them would collapse – and Tony had this feeling in his gut that he knew who it would be.

“You must have discussed the betrayal with him at some point, Tony.” Thor’s hands were balled into fists. “Otherwise he could not have done it, he cannot go back on his word. It is binding; unless he wishes to invoke the Norns’ ire upon him. A fate nobody wishes for themselves, no matter how much they like to play with their destiny.”

“Is that an Asgard thing?” Clint.

“Aye.” Thor nodded. “We must have known of the betrayal!”

“No, we can’t have.” Natasha’s voice was sickly sweet. Tony started to fear for his dick. “Only Loki and Tony did. Loki might have not minded helping and providing us with information about Thanos, but his alliance ultimately was with Tony, and him only.”

The ‘Oh’ sound was one that Tony wished FRIDAY had recorded. Could have come straight from a movie.

“I don’t remember staging a betrayal and I didn’t betray you.”

“Of course you don’t.” Natasha’s voice hadn’t changed one bit. “Because you are needed as an Avenger, not as a vagabond like Loki is.” 

Tony cleared his throat and put his phone back away into his pocket. It vibrated softly there and he resisted the urge to look at the message.

FRIDAY’S alarms went off loudly.

_“Boss, someone is breaching my code.”_

“Trace the hacker.” Tony was awake. “You guys, run the perimeter. Check for intruders. Bruce, with me–“

They took off rapidly, lights started to flicker in the Tower.

“We got too close,” Tony pressed out as he raced to his workshop. “Someone was listening in–“

“I thought JARVIS was taken off the grid?”

“Yes.” Tony threw a look back over his shoulder, still running. “But that doesn’t mean we’re not impregnable. Not when we consider who else is in the playing field.”

He tore open the door to his workshop, sat down at his computer, opened the tracing –

His fingers ran over his keyboard as he tried to stop the virus that was doing its best to delete _everything_ he had stored. It even had knowledge about the backups of the backups. Tony bit on his lips. _No, he would not lose this battle –_

He had no idea if Bruce was activating the emergency electricity and had found the F4 switches yet.

Eventually –

“Oh fucking hell.”

“What?” Bruce yelled over to him as he worked at the electricity. “What is it, Tony?”

“The hacker was me.”

“Explain.”

“Nothing much to explain.” Tony shrugged. “Watching the video about the alliance simply activated a failsafe I had installed months ago that tried to erase everything that we got. FRIDAY and I stopped it. Do you have any idea how absolutely wrong this could have gone if JARVIS had been still online? Compromised as he is? We would have lost _everything.”_

“Tony, why the fuck would you _do that_?” Bruce looked angry.

“Because if I couldn’t stop that?” Tony looked up from his screen. “Then we’d have deserved it. Or I had seen the video at a point where literally nothing was making sense yet while making horrific sense enough to just keep on living. It was a challenge, Bruce. A test.”

“You know, I’m suddenly seeing why you and Loki fit together. You’re both absolute risk-takers.”

“Exactly.” And Tony didn’t bother hiding the smugness in his voice. “FRI, be so kind and tell the rest of the Avengers that the danger is averted? And then I propose a break for everyone. The day was long enough to take a break.”

“You. A break.”

“Yes.” Tony nodded. “I need a moment to collect my thoughts and come to terms with what we’ve learned. Also, my COBRA needs attention and I cannot deny anything such beauty.”

“Tony, it’s a _car_.”

“And you need sleep.” Tony raised a finger. “You’re bit green around the edges.”

Bruce really was. Less good to be around him at times like those. “Go and punch a few bags in the gym.”

“You know what? I’ll do just that.”

Tony almost pitied his friend for how exhausted he sounded. “Catch you later, Bruce.”

“Yes.”

As soon as the door fell shut behind Bruce, Tony pulled out his phone.

He was more than curious as to see what FRIDAY had sent to his phone. The fact that she’d done it in a discreet manner told him that it was more than important and – uh, probably wouldn’t be met by delight from the rest of the Avengers. Sometimes Tony wondered why they all insisted on sticking to the rules all the time – nothing good ever came of it. Like yes, some rules? But they were there to be bent and broken and used to one’s advantage. Not to – stick to them like a cleric to the bible.

He opened the message. It was a video and –

Okay, he wasn’t that surprised to see Loki on it. But what was interesting was how hurried Loki looked.

**_Then_ **

_‘Are you recording, JARVIS?’_

_‘Of course, Mr Loki. You can start now.’_

_‘Stark.’ Loki took a breath. ‘If you receive this message then this means you are aware something is fishy or you simply hacked your way into JARVIS’ system so deep that you found this by accident. In this case, the message and video will be confusing to you – if not even incite hatred. Do not turn off this video yet. I know it must burn in your soul to do it because why would you bother listening to an enemy? But here I am, appealing to your humanity.’_

_For a second, Loki looked lost in thought._

_‘Take the appearance of the Tesseract in your lab as a gesture of my goodwill. This video will only be played once, JARVIS assured me that it will self-destruct soon after. The Tesseract is linked to me, so that I’ll know when the time has come to join you to fight Thanos. For the last time, permanently. If the fight goes south, I will transport you and your brethren back to the base so you leave the fight alive without greater loss. The plan is to use the Tesseract to teleport Thanos through space; if he is exposed to radiation and is being sent from one place to the other throughout the universe, his body will not be able to endure it; he will splinter, explode even. If my memory does not play a trick on me, then you told me once about a villain in a book who splintered his soul too often and went mad.’_

_Loki lifted the Tesseract up in his hands, his face illuminated by the blue glow._

_‘One should never underestimate the power of an Infinity Stone.’ He tapped the cube’s sides thoughtfully. ‘Lady Death might be angered if we take Thanos that way, for should he be too torn apart to be of any further use she cannot accept the sacrifice. However it will also mean that the universe is safe and you will no longer be in danger of becoming sacrifices yourselves.’_

_Loki turned away, and put the Tesseract on Stark’s table._

_‘I have to leave for battle calls, Stark. Fara heill.’_

**_Now_ **

_Oh._ Tony stared at the phone in his hands, at Loki’s light smile towards the end which remained even when he was leaving for battle. He knew exactly what battle Loki was referring to – the one where he had betrayed them. Pretended to have them betrayed so that they could reform and attack Thanos anew.

Maybe.

His head was whirling with all the possibilities, with all the newly presented information. Loki’s behaviour, his _words_ that Tony had paid close attention to because Loki was words, made up and formed by them. JARVIS’ behaviour, that made sense. If JARVIS – his dear AI – had agreed to record this video from Loki for _Tony_ , then –

That meant that JARVIS had known about the plan all along. He had been compromised indeed but – if there was one thing Tony knew with all certainty, then it was that his AI would never betray him. They’d gone through so much together and JARVIS was Tony’s baby – and one of his greatest friends. No. JARVIS would never betray him; he would even fight enchantments to tell Tony that something was _wrong_.

“FRIDAY, who sent you the video?”

_“A friend, Boss.”_ She sounded delighted. _“They send their regards and hope to see you again soon. I found it in… files.”_

“In files, huh?” Tony chuckled. “Let’s turn JARVIS back on and hope he doesn't go Skynet because I took him offline.”

_“I think he understands, Boss.”_

That’s what Tony hoped for, too. It didn’t take long to activate JARVIS once more and for him to catch up on what he’d missed during his one-day absence. Had it only been one day? It felt so much longer. It felt like a life-time.

Tony gripped the edge of his table as a wave of nausea overtook him. His head started to hurt again. Pain – nothing more than pain.

He was dimly aware of sitting down somewhere. A cold cloth was pressed against his forehead, the lights were dimmed.

In the distance, a door was opened.

Hurried steps.

Nothing.

_… ract is linked to me … is to use the Tesseract to teleport Thanos … splinter, explode even … verse safe …_

Tony awoke with a gasp. Stared incomprehensibly at the ceiling for a breath. _Loki was going to explode Thanos and himself._

The information laid heavily in his mind. His arc reactor hurt, flashes of space, black and dark – so dark that the only light came from the portal below him, the city small and lifetimes away. Self-sacrifices were – not easy to process. Back then, it had been so easy for Tony to fly through the portal. His mind saw a way to end the slaughter, to end the battle. Perhaps there’d been a way to deliver the nuke, someone like Thor who could have done it and probably had bigger surviving chances than Tony.

But the decision had to be made in a split second. This? What Loki was planning?

Tony gritted his teeth. Annoyance welled up inside him. _It was a waste, and stupid._

Nothing more, nothing less. There were other ways. Who said that Loki still needed to be linked? The Avengers could finish Thanos off on their own, they _didn’t need Loki._ One only had to look at where they were now, what they were doing – and that with each of them having a brain scar.

Loki _had_ to rectify that. They all were in need of their memories, they needed to know their heads were okay and had not been tampered with in a permanent way. The bastard owed them so much.

Perhaps Tony was angrier than it was warranted. But the video had felt – sounded so much like a manipulation, an easy way out for Loki. A betrayal that was none, yet the evidence for it wasn’t solid and could be shattered easily by one of Natasha’s round-kicks.

He wanted the fucking truth. His head back. The headaches to stop because – Tony squeezed his eyes shut – he didn’t want to die. Still too much to do and to be beaten by a ridiculous headache? People would never take him seriously again. Tony Stark, the man who saved the world and got killed by a headache.

“Tony?”

He opened his eyes and looked at Bruce. “Hey man.”

“You had another headache.” A worried look crossed Bruce’s face.

“Yeah.”

“They’re getting worse.”

Tony didn’t bother with replying to that statement. It was painfully obvious anyway.

“We need to get back to finishing the portal,” was his reply instead. “We’re running out of time and if that fucking headache kills me, then it had better be _after_ we finish Thanos off.”

Bruce looked uncomfortable. “Listen, Tony. I don’t know if it’s clever for you to keep working on the cause or attend the battle. What if you die because you had another episode?”

“Then you better make sure that Thanos loses his head in my name,” Tony said coldly. “And then you kick Loki’s ass and throw him out of another window.”

Bruce opened his mouth. Thought better of it, then closed it again. “Alright. Be it on your head.”

“It literally is _in_ my head, so I don’t see why it’s such a big issue.” Tony snorted. “Good. J’s back, in case you didn’t know yet.”

_“Mr Banner.”_

“See, all good and well. I hope you aren’t cross with me, J.”

_“Never, Sir.”_ His AI sounded amused. _“I’m glad your self-preservation instincts took over for once without my help.”_

“Awesome. When this is over, you and I need to talk about why it’s never a good idea to lie to me.”

_“I didn’t lie, Sir. I only omitted certain facts to keep you going, as previously agreed on.”_

Tony shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. We’ve got a portal to build.”

_“Boss?”_ FRIDAY spoke up. “ _I found another file where the dates have been edited. JARVIS cannot see those.”_

“Oh good.” Tony nodded. “Send them to me. Brucie, I –“ he hesitated. “I need you here in case I get another blackout. How long was I out for this time?”

“About half an hour.”

“When Clint found me, it’d only been about twenty minutes.” Tony allowed himself to curse in front of his children. “Good. So fuck me, I guess. If I black out, keep going with whatever FRIDAY found. Yes?”

“Yes.”

“Good man.” Tony sat down, pleased to find a mug of coffee waiting for him. “Okay, give me the good stuff, FRIDAY.”

He disappeared again into his own world of coding and deciphering, all numbers and lines, symbols, slowly they started to form a picture in front of his inner eye. That picture eventually became a full movie, another thread that was added to the story Tony found himself a protagonist in. Of course he was one of the protagonists, how else could it be?

But eventually, Tony stared at the coordinates to a place that wasn’t … close by. Somewhere in space. He bit on his lips before he broke out in laughter.

“Brucie, we got the coordinates to Thanos’ backwater place!”

“Are you sure this is not a trick?”

“Oh, so it is a trick.” Tony laughed. “But this one is going to be on Thanos, not on us. He won’t see us coming!”

“You are absolutely crazy, Tony.”

“I know, I know. Too much the honour.” He stood up from his chair. “And now we go and build the portal. We should have the plans from how SHIELD did it, right?”

_“Correct, Sir.”_

“Good. Look at us go. Now. I need more coffee, we need Thor to lift several things for us. And we need to sacrifice the training room because that’s the only place where we easily have a lot of space.”

“Steve is going to kill you.”

“Steve can suck my ass,” Tony said politely. “We’ll sacrifice the gym, said and done. It’s my stuff, my Tower, Tony Stark has spoken.”

“Tony-“

“Yes, Bruce?”

“How are you planning on telling the team that we kept the Tesseract a secret?”

“A valid question. We go in there and tell them we found a way to Thanos’ Realm. Boom, done. Unnecessary questions later.”

Bruce didn’t say anything more after that.

He probably despaired over Tony.

Not that it was anything new. That was fine.

\- ⍰ -

The good news was that Natasha didn’t kill him. She only pulled out a knife to pick her fingernails and Tony was hit by a sudden wave of want. And fear. Obviously.

But they all agreed to wait with killing Tony until they’d killed Thanos. Tony thought about pleading ‘acting under duress’ because – yeah, he had no intentions of being killed by his team. And Steve whined a bit when they cleared out the gym but everything was stored away safely so he couldn’t complain too much, Tony thought.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this.” Clint stared at the construction with crossed arms. “It reminds me too much of the base in Santa Fe.”

“Well, unlike the base, the Tower won’t collapse because we opened some minimal portal.”

“I hope so.” Clint tilted his head. “Also, don’t worry about me killing you, Stark. You owe me a dog.”

“It’s going to be a great dog.”

“Yes.”

“I’m so glad you’re on my side.”

“Aren’t you just.” Clint smiled.

And that – was creepier than Natasha pulling out her knife.

\- ⍰ -

They built the portal within two days. There’d been a minor miscalculation with how things were supposed to get into the Tower. Thor was so kind to throw his hammer against the wall and made a big enough hole that the pipes got through. It turned out that the hole wasn’t stable and about to break in, which meant that Tony called in a company to rescue them from a potential death.

Yet, it had been hilarious to have other people over while Tony was battling headaches.

And kept blacking out. By now, his record was at almost an hour and that wasn’t _funny_. Only a slightest little bit because hysteria did that to someone. But Tony didn’t keep a rest and Thor was nice enough to get something from Asgard, some powdered stone that Tony would need to take before battle – it would help him to stay awake, but the chance was high the blackout he’d face _afterwards_ , would be spectacular. Maybe even a tiny little bit fatal but Thor agreed to keep it hush-hush.

Because he knew all about how it was not to be allowed at a battle and honestly, why refuse a man’s wish to battle and deny him the chance to die a warrior’s death, right? That’s how Tony had explained it. It was mean to use Thor’s culture against him but uh – yeah. No regrets and all that.

DUM-E and YOU were as helpful as they could be, they even cut back on bothering Clint to throw their frisbee when they all took a break. But – Clint was apparently the best thrower out of them all because archer, you know? Tony took the statement with a little bit of salt because the best thrower was still him. The kids were only mad at him because he’d been neglecting them of late. But – world saving first, kids later. They needed to understand that.

And perhaps they were angry too because Tony kept passing out. Oops.

Eventually though, the portal was finished.

It was around four in the morning and Tony swore that his eye bags had been branded into his skin.

“Lovely work.”

Tony whipped around, the mug of coffee in his hand, held in front of him like a weapon. The coffee was still _hot_. Tony was curious to see if Loki could be burnt by liquid. He was only two seconds away from finding out, when –

“Brother!”

“Thor.” Loki inclined his head, that bastard.

“I am tempted to throw Mjölnir against your head.”

Loki waved him off. “It would pass through, this is only a projection of myself that you see.”

Tony snorted. “Bit of a coward, aren’t you?”

“The opposite.” Loki stared at him. “Only a fool would present himself in the midst of a group that wishes to get rid of him.”

“A coward and a fool.” Tony rolled his eyes. “Anyway. The portal is done. We’ll leave tomorrow morning after we all got a good night’s rest. You’ll be there?”

“As I promised.”

“Not going to betray us again, will you?”

Loki’s mouth twitched. “By now you should know that the betrayal was for your safety alone.”

Tony saw Clint laughing in the background. He had a sudden urge to put his fist into the laughing face.

“Maybe so.” He refused to blink first as he kept staring into Loki’s eyes. He strode forward, a finger pressed against Loki’s chest. “If you betray us again and get us killed, I’ll haunt you for the rest of your miserable short life until you die, and then even more so when you’re dead.”

Loki looked unimpressed.

“Because you owe me _big time._ ” Tony pointed at his head. “Capiché?”

With that he turned and walked away, only to yell back over his shoulder, “And next time don’t lie about being an illusion or not.”

Because he’d fucking touched Loki’s chest. Been bit of a gamble. But it only confirmed a hypothesis Tony had: if there had been something between them – and Loki was as much of an opportunist as Tony believed – then he would be here in person.

To lie and see if Tony was still able to keep up with him.

And Tony fucking was.

Which meant they’d been fucking.

_Congratulations, Tony. You fucked a god._

\- ⍰ -

The next day came too quickly. Tony took a shower, drank enough coffee to be awake, ran to the toilet because pissing during the battle was never fun.

Steve sat there, dog tags in his hand that he was petting almost fondly; Natasha was checking her guns for munition and if there was anything at fault. Clint was sharpening his arrows; Bruce said his last prayer and Tony swallowed the stone powder next. Thor nodded in approval, gave him a heartfelt slap on the back.

Loki appeared quietly, dressed in his battle garb. The helmet was in his hands, he was running his fingers over the golden horns soothingly.

“Good, we’re all assembled.” Tony had his helmet in his hands too. The similarity to Loki was startling. “Anyone who feels like saying their last words? JARVIS got your testaments? Yes? Amazing. Let’s go.”

Loki shook his head with a grin.

Tony matched it. Before anyone else could say anything, he put the Tesseract into its designated place and the machine activated.

“Just kidding, guys. I expect us all to get out of this alive, a plum less in this universe.” He threw an exaggerated wink into the round.

A blue beam came from the Tesseract and it started to form an oval in the air. It looked similar to the ones in Diabolo, Tony thought. Blue and shiny.

“Time to go,” Steve said quietly but he could have yelled. One could have heard a needle drop to the ground, everyone frozen for a moment; aware of what they were going to do and who was awaiting them on the other side.

Perhaps a last wish not to die.

A belated, half-hearted offering to anyone _not_ to let them fail again.

Then they ran forwards, engulfed by blue light and coldness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you didn't see that update coming, did you 😎


	4. Chapter 4

The Chitauri hadn’t seen them coming.

The Avengers hadn’t counted on Thanos’ Realm being any more than rocks floating in space. A colony of rocks and Thanos was on one of them.

For a moment, Tony lost his footing as the rock started to shake beneath his feet as the Hulk jumped in battle-induced excitement. A pebble fell of the rock, fell, and kept falling, swallowed by a greedy nothing –

“ _Ready?”_ Steve asked over the comms.

Clint released an arrow. Tony saw the red blinking light –

The Chitauri burst apart in heat and flame, his companies around him, roasted and falling to the ground, their screams full of agony.

“ _Find Thanos. If you have spotted him, do not engage. Tell me,”_ Loki cut in.

Tony nodded.

Adrenaline was building up in his veins; his vision clear, JARVIS’ voice analytical in his ears.

“ _What are we going to bet that his purple ass is sitting somewhere high above?”_ Tony was betting his own ass on it. And he’d rather he didn’t lose it, because he was proud of his asset. He heard Thor muttering something into the earpiece but the sound went under as a fucking _leviathan_ swam up from behind them and the Avengers disbanded, quicker than anybody believed them capable of.

Tony found himself floating and he kicked into the air; his thrusters turned on and he was – back in the game.

In some sort of way.

The Chitauri had regained their wit in that moment and were now running – flying? – towards them.

Terror. For a heartbeat - as Tony saw the amount of them, the sheer mass, the _noises –_ he was teleported straight back to the battle in New York. But he couldn’t allow himself to follow that trail of thought and he rose a few feet –

It was always beautiful to see how a small rocket dropped to the ground, and the second of shock, confusion in the enemy’s line. And then –

**_Boom._ **

Art of a different kind; heat stroke over Tony’s suit. Warning signals lit up on his HUD and he turned around, flew higher and away as something was sent back toward him –

Dropped like a stone; pebble became visible, the dust on Cap’s helmet –

Tony turned, _fired_ at whatever was chasing him. Hit and sped up, evading the fallen debris.

Something exploded in a mass of red and blue when it hit the ground; Natasha cursed into the comms; Russian and another Chitauri became a victim of her Widow Bites.

His head was going only into one direction; he didn’t stray far from it. He was the support, the attacker, the one who had his eyes everywhere.

Guts were falling from the night that surrounded the Avengers, darkness and red galaxies shining on his HUD. His repulsors aimed at everything that moved – and even didn’t move. A cheer went through the comms when the giant rock Tony had been aiming at exploded and huge chunks buried brainless soldiers.

And yet – there was no flash of purple, only a dash of green and gold in the distance.

Tony –

Was curious. And it seemed as if his colleagues had everything under control here –

And Tony was curious, so _curious_. Perhaps also still angry at Loki, furious for what he’d done to him, that he was planning on _killing himself_ , just to save the fucking universe after betraying them beforehand. It might have been a ploy, for _whatever stupid reason,_ but Tony still _felt_ the echo of betrayal in his bones. He kicked the Chitauri in its face with his foot; the face now a dented mask of ethereal beauty.

_On y va!_

Loki was close, and –

_“Sir, to your right.”_

Tony whipped his head to the right. Something froze inside him as he saw the mass of purple walk closer. Thanos was – _tall_. Purple. And he carried an ease with him which was honestly scary. There were people who walked over a battlefield, knowing and ready to die; there were some who knew they’d live; some who only wished to survive; some who fought for a cause.

And some who had a smug air around them, who directed fate and told it where to go, who to take.

That was Thanos.

And of course, purple too.

The sword in his hand looked _heavy_ , from the distance alone although it looked like a toothpick in Thanos’ hands; just a small accessory he felt would be appropriate to carry with him like others adorned themselves with jewellery.

“ _Found him!”_

_“Stark, run,”_ Loki advised him.

“ _Nothing of that sort, Prancer.”_ Tony allowed himself a short chuckle. “ _Feel like joining me? We can take bets on who gets the most hits in.”_

Loki’s laughter came unexpectedly; but it was fresh and full of _mirth_.

A dosage of dopamine, straight into his veins – that would’ve had similar effects. Tony grinned, checked the status. So far, only scratches, no serious hits had landed yet.

_“It would be an honour to fight on my side, Stark.”_

_“On your side, huh?”_ Tony shook his head. _“I think you mixed that up.”_

Loki appeared in a flash of gold next to him, a knife in one hand, twirling it over his knuckles as if it were a mere coin. “No,” he stated confidently. “You being at my side, fighting alongside a god is an honour _for you.”_

“Your brother literally is my teammate.”

“Thor isn’t me.”

And that was the end of that argument. Because Tony had no way of telling Loki that Thor at least hadn’t taken their memories and crashed them into a fight here. Not when their _main fight_ was literally walking towards them with a mean grin on his face. A plum jelly spread on toast, yes. That’s what it looked like.

Yet – Tony felt goosebumps spreading over his body.

“Finally, a worthy sacrifice to my Lady.” Thanos spoke like he walked. Sure. Confident. His voice echoed through the realm of rocks; louder even than the sounds his dying soldiers made. “The _Avengers.”_ A purr in his voice.

Tony spread his hands, gauntlets activated.

“You brought them to me, Loki. Even after you betrayed me _once more._ If you think that I’ll grant you mercy because of that, then you thought wrong.”

“I didn’t bring them to you,” Loki replied calmly. _Too calm,_ in Tony’s opinion. He knew that sound, it was one you mader before losing your shit and going berserk upon someone. “There is some credit to be given to the only brain that is to be found on Midgard.”

Tony felt flattered.

Then he attacked because hero-villain-dialogues were so yesterday, and Tony preferred to live in the future.

Thanos was – powerful.

Loki was angry.

Tony was tired _and_ angry. It was a wonderful mixture for the fight because he kind of was forced into staying in the moment and at the same time, put more effort into it to finish the battle. Loki was a shadow of green and silver glinting in the rough light; purple flesh bled blue blood.

It was wonderful.

He kicked Thanos in the back with enough force that he stumbled forward; Loki greeted him with open arms; more blood fell to the ground. A backhand caught Tony in the helmet, stars danced across his vision.

He moved forward, ducked, flew a loop, _hit._

He moved sideward, steel was coming at him, heavy and the sound non _existent,_ he flew into a rock.

He forgot how to breathe for a second.

He forgot that breathing was essential as he lay there, staring; his back a wound someone poured salt into. Every nerve was screaming and yelling at him. Shock had manifested in his system.

JARVIS made him get up, re-join the fight.

A few Chitauri stood in his way, slaughtered and bleeding, left to his sides.

An aisle to walk down, a path of destruction.

Loki and Thanos at the end, a grotesque image of a bride and husband.

Perhaps the hit hadn’t only been to his back.

_Kick, kick, shoot. Shoot, hit –_

Tony had fallen silent, trying to give Loki an opening to use the Tesseract, the fucking _Tesseract_ as they had planned on –

In the back of his mind he wondered how long they had been fighting now. It felt like ages. His limbs were starting to ache under the abuse, the Iron Man suit was slowly being drained of energy and Thor only _now_ could join them.

But he brought fresh wind to the fight – literally; and as Loki sliced off a purple hand, Thor used his hammer on Tony, gave him more juice like the good co-fighter he was; and not soon after, Thanos was hit by a blast from the arc reactor – surrounded in blue white light and _screaming._

Dark satisfaction filled Tony as he stepped back, feeling as if he’d run a thousand miles and only now took a break.

The realm turned silent as blue light hit Thanos; blue and nothing more and then –

It turned cold, everything grey and black, only the red turned purple.

Death’s entrance was dramatic, Tony had to give her that. And perhaps Loki could have warned them beforehand, as Lady Death was nothing more than a fucking walking _skeleton,_ only dressed in a purple-black cloak.

Perhaps Tony could have thought of that, too. Because death was – the end of life, and what more was one at the end, than dust and bones?

“You called, Silvertongue.”

“My Lady.” Loki bowed his head.

Tony blinked – and the blink lasted a lifetime. He felt himself age, the certainty that he was going to die, creeping up on him. His limbs, weak and used, his mind, old and weak, _forgetful._ He blinked. Dust swept up from his lashes, their surroundings changed and renewed, a plant blooming to his left withering away already.

“I accept,” Lady Death said.

Thanos died.

And Tony took a deep, shuddering breath as Lady Death disappeared.

Natasha killed the Chitauri she’d been battling a lifetime ago.

Tony stared at Loki. Wondering, asking, _blinking._

The Trickster smiled.

The Tesseract was in his hands, glowing blue, still intact and not running the risk of _exploding_ any time soon.

“It’s time to bring you back home,” Loki announced cheerfully.

\- ⍰ -

The first thing Tony did was get out of his suit, then he made coffee. A lot of it. And tea, because despite what people thought of him, he _could_ be a good host and Loki had just brought them back. And he had to hurry up too because –

Yeah, he remembered what Thor had said about the aftereffects.

“So,” Tony said as he returned, bringing two coffee pots and one teapot for Loki with him. “Congratulations, Team. We did it, we saved the universe and nobody will ever know. Hip hip – _hurray!”_

His team’s reaction was less enthusiastic. They all looked like Tony felt – bit beaten, bit bruised and hurting everywhere. Except for Thor. He looked like a ray of sunshine and had a smile on his face that was scary to see.

“Is that _coffee?”_ Clint stole a pot from his hands and served himself. Tony shrugged mentally.

“Yes.” He lifted the one for Loki. “That’s _tea_.”

“A wonder in the house Stark.” The Trickster reached for it, took a sniff, then closed his eyes in bliss.

Tony took that as a sign he’d chosen wisely.

Blueberry tea for the Trickster, coffee; and ah – Natasha was already at the bar, mixing her own thing together. Tony let her do her thing.

Then the weirdest possible thing happened.

They all sat on the ground, and drank in silence.

Tony was glad for it; glad he could enjoy coffee for another day, the bitter brew melting his tongue and the scent heavy in the air. Paradise for him. A note of blueberry mixed to it, the soft sound of his teammates breathing around him. Weapons on the ground, and no calls disturbing their silence.

It was perfect, in a truly twisted way because Tony hated silence.

He took another sip of his coffee.

His headache started knocking at his temples.

“I don’t want to disturb the silence,” Tony said and he meant it. “But my headache is coming back.”

Bruce inhaled sharply.

Tony looked at Loki, calm. “I think you can do something about that, can’t you?”

Loki nodded but didn’t move.

“That was an invitation.”

“Are you sure you want to know?” Loki asked him. “Do you wish to know or would you prefer to –“

“I want to know,” Tony cut in. “I need to be able to trust my head, Prancer. So, get to it.”

Loki nodded. “I will take the longest for you,” he admitted. “Your memories were the most important to change and erase.”

“Funny, that explains the size of the scarring.” Tony sighed. “Do I even want to know why me and not Thor?”

“Don’t pretend you have no clue,” Loki chided him. He elegantly rose from where he sat, walked over to Tony and sank to his knees in front of him. “This will hurt.”

“Don’t good things always?”

Loki chuckled.

His hands touched Tony’s temples, so wonderfully _cold_ and Tony’s eyes fluttered shut.

**_Then_ **

_‘For my betrayal, Thanos wishes to see me suffer. He promised me pain, Anthony. Pain, beyond my imagination.’_

_‘He sounds like a lovely fellow.’ Tony leant back against his workshop table, his arms crossed. ‘And all that only because you failed your invasion?’_

_‘Thanos isn’t one who takes failure lightly.’ Loki smiled. ‘If it weren’t me he wants to see beheaded in the end, I’d almost admire that in him.’_

_‘Yeah, that kind of takes away the charm,’ Tony confirmed dryly. He sighed as Loki continued to stroll through his workshop like an agitated cat. ‘What are you planning on doing?’_

_‘A double-betrayal.’ Loki tilted his head. ‘Thanos is most likely aware of your alliance. His eyes and ears are everywhere, you’d do well not to underestimate him.’_

_‘But he’s not listening in right now?’_

_‘No.’ Loki’s eyes became unfocused. ‘Believe me, I knew.’_

_‘Good.’ Tony clapped in his hands. ‘What’s your plan?’_

_‘In case Thanos doesn’t appear at the fight, I wish to take your memories of our alliance as it is.’_

_‘Scuse me, you want to do **what**?’_

_‘You heard me right.’ Loki nodded. ‘You will not trust me any longer, but we can plan with that and give you enough hints to puzzle everything out yourself, to attack the Titan anew. Preferably where we can catch him, and Death has no trouble reaching.’_

_‘You want me to distrust you by making me believe you betrayed me?’ Tony blew out air. ‘Lokes, I don’t think that’s a good idea.’_

_‘But you and your friends will be safe from Thanos for a while longer. And I will be on the run, and keeping an eye on you, while you think I have crawled back to him.’_

_‘That sounds like you ‘ve put much thought into it already.’_

_Loki gave him a look that would have killed any lesser being. ‘It is nothing but an elaborate trick, Anthony. It is what I do every time I inhale.’_

_‘And when you exhale?’_

_‘I’m already performing the trick.’_

_‘Hmm, my experience with you in bed tells me something else.’_

_For a second, mischief blinked up in Loki’s eyes. ‘I will have to convince you otherwise later.’_

_‘Oh yes, you have to.’ Tony smirked. He sat atop his table. ‘Good. All right. Memory alteration for me and the other Avengers in case Thanos doesn’t appear. What about Rhodey? He knows of our alliance, but he’s needed elsewhere.’_

_‘A mission that prevents him from answering his phone.’ Loki nodded. ‘You have the connections, Anthony. Use them.’_

_‘I’ve always wanted to send my best friend on a mission so that he can ignore me.’_

_‘He’ll be delighted, I’m sure.’_

_Tony snorted. ‘Okay, get me another coffee, then I want a kiss as motivation, and afterwards we can start hashing out the details.’_

_‘This sounds agreeable to me.’_

**_Now_ **

“Natasha is going to kill me.”

“She’d better not,” Loki agreed light-heartedly. “Take a sip, Anthony, we aren’t done yet.”

Tony emptied his coffee.

**_Then_ **

_‘You know, I’ve always wanted to challenge myself unawares.’_

_‘I’m sure you have.’ Loki snorted softly on the couch. ‘How is your trap coming along?’_

_‘Splendidly.’ Tony abandoned his PC. ‘I can’t believe I told JARVIS to betray me.’_

_‘If it helps, Sir, I cannot believe you either.’_

_‘That does help, thanks.’ Tony walked over to his Trickster, proudly admiring the hickey he’d left there. It was nice of Lokes to keep that one. It was purple and kind of hard to miss. ‘Did you know that the others have a betting pool on us?’_

_‘Oh, do they now?’ Loki sat up and caught Tony between his legs. ‘What are they betting on?’_

_‘I have no idea.’ Tony shrugged. ‘Your fault if you never show off your hickeys.’_

_‘They do not fit my personality,’ Loki told him with a straight face. ‘I’m the younger sibling, I am the only one who is allowed to bite others.’_

_‘Well, sucks to be you.’ Tony rolled his eyes before he bent down to press a kiss against Loki’s lips. He slipped his tongue into his mouth, humming happily._

_‘I think, I’d rather have you suck me,’ Loki said when they parted. ‘That sounds much more pleasing.’_

_‘Doesn’t it?’ Tony threw a look at his coding. ‘I think the universe will survive if I leave this alone for a few more hours.’_

_‘I’m sure it will.’ Loki stood up, his hands on Tony’s waist. ‘I have to leave in a few days and steal the Tesseract from Asgard.’_

_‘Ew.’_

_‘How eloquent of you.’_

_‘Mhm, I learnt from the best.’_

**_Now_ **

Tony opened his eyes. Loki was still facing him but his hands left Tony’s temples. There were more memories, slowly coming back.

There was so much laughter in his head, a joy, an entire _feeling_ that Tony hadn’t thought about for what he’d assumed, he’d experienced last with Pepper all those months, more than a year ago.

“You know,” Tony said slowly, “I don’t think I _ever_ want to have another memory alteration.”

Loki chuckled but it sounded pained to Tony’s ears. The Trickster rose.

Tony caught his hand, pulled him back down.

“I’m serious. Next time, we’ll think of something else. This was stressful, can you believe?”

“I can.” Loki smiled bitterly. “After all, I was the only one who remembered.”

“Where the fuck have you been all this time?”

Loki gave an elegant shrug. “I mostly stayed with Colonel Rhodes to ensure he was safe and posed as one of his soldiers. I came back though.” Green eyes caught Tony’s.

“The wink in my reflection.”

“I couldn’t resist.”

Tony snorted. “That I can believe.”

“If you two start being disgustingly sweet, let me know beforehand, so I can kill Tony,” Natasha cut in.

“Red–“

“Yes, Tony, darling?” She smiled, sweet as an angel. “I might not kill you because we defeated Thanos. But you owe me and Clint a dog.”

“Yep. Granted.”

“Good.” She looked happy. “And now I’d like my memories back.”

“Don’t I even get to kiss _my Trickster_ first?”

“No. You can have him all to yourself after he did his job.”

Tony nodded. “I want a vacation.”

“I don’t care what you want, do whatever you want as long as I know that you don’t die because of another headache.” Natasha snorted.

Bruce nodded. “I think, I agree.”

“Well then.” Tony looked back at Loki. “How about you give them their memories back and then we take a vacation?”

“As long as it’s not on Asgard.” Loki stood up with a sigh. “And not anywhere Thor can find us.”

“That makes it complicated.”

“You don’t say.” Loki levelled him a dry look.

“Indeed.” Tony nodded. “In fact, I think this is giving me a headache.”

Tony had never heard an entire room groan in unison before.

It was lovely.

Almost as lovely as when Loki was finally done and Tony could show him _exactly_ where he needed to help him with his… headache. Thankfully, Loki had a cure for that as well. And then cured him from the next one too.

_In fact,_ Tony thought, _Loki was the kind of headache healer he didn’t want to get rid of any time soon._

**_Then_ **

_‘Hey, Lokes?’ Tony asked over their private comm as they saw the Chitauri advancing. He was strangely calm. Everything was going to plan._

_‘Yes, Anthony?’_

_‘I love you, you know? And if this doesn’t work out and we die at the end, then I’ll kill you for not having given me my memories back in time.’_

_A beat of silence._

_‘I love you too.’ Loki turned his head to look at him. ‘And I’m sorry in advance.’_

_‘You think Thanos won’t come?’_

_‘I doubt it.’_

_‘Ah. Well.’ Tony snorted. ‘That’ll make it more interesting, don’t you think?’_

_‘Indeed.’ Loki winked at him._

_The Chitauri descended upon them, overwhelmingly strong._

_When Loki eventually uttered his words of betrayal, Tony took a second to admire his Trickster performing. He knew that they would defeat Thanos even if it would depend on a lot of luck and trickery._

_But they’d found themselves too without having looked for it._

_Tony was sure that in the end, he and Loki would find each other again._

_Thanos stood no chance against them._

_Never._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter is not late, it arrived precisely the moment it was meant to.   
> Kidding. (Almost). I just came home (yes, it's almost 12am here), I left about uh, way too many hours ago, I _had_ planned on being home in between for longer than 15 minutes but anyway. Life xD 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this small trip of madness, bless you a bunch❤️ 
> 
> I have absolutely no idea what's going to come next, might be an arranged marriage madness AU, might be a BDSM AU, might be a friends with benefits AU; my wips are all looking very tempting 👀 (That being said, I started them all, which is why I don't know what comes next) 
> 
> See you soon again 🥰


End file.
